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Payments/HK/fps

FPS

FPS, the Faster Payment System, called 轉數快 in Chinese [2], is Hong Kong's instant payment system. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) launched it on 17 September 2018, and Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited (HKICL) runs it [1] [6]. You send Hong Kong dollars or renminbi from your banking or e-wallet app to anyone at another bank or e-wallet, 24 hours a day. You type the payee's mobile number, email address or FPS ID instead of an account number, or you scan an FPS QR code [7]. Small transfers are usually free and capped at HK$10,000 a day [22] [23]. In September 2026 FPS carried 84.6 million HKD payments [10].
Country Hong Kong (HK)
What it is A 24/7 real-time payment system linking banks and stored value facilities (SVFs, e-wallets), for credit transfers and direct debits in HKD and RMB [5] [6]
Who runs it HKICL operates HKD FPS and RMB FPS. The HKMA settles HKD FPS and Bank of China (Hong Kong) settles RMB FPS; both are designated systems overseen by the HKMA [6]
Banks or providers 36 banks and 9 SVFs offered real-time FPS services in October 2026, among them PayMe from HSBC, AlipayHK, WeChat Pay HK and Octopus [12]
Since 17 Sep 2018 (registration); fully live 30 Sep 2018 [3] [10]
Cost Free at the banks read for this page; some e-wallets charge to move money out (Octopus: 1% above HK$3,000 a month) [23] [24] [25]
Typical limit HK$10,000 a day for small-value transfers at HSBC and Hang Seng; your bank sets its own limits [7] [22] [23]
Reaches Every FPS bank and e-wallet in Hong Kong; Thailand's PromptPay merchants (since 4 Dec 2023); mainland China bank accounts through Payment Connect (since 22 Jun 2025) [16] [18]
Format ISO 20022 messages between participants [5]
Code on paper? Yes. FPS QR codes on shop counters, bills and government payment slips follow the HKMA's Common QR Code Specification, built on EMVCo's merchant-presented QR [13] [15]

This page is about paying and being paid with FPS in Hong Kong. For the wallets that ride on it, see PayMe, Octopus, AlipayHK, WeChat Pay HK and BoC Pay+.

How FPS came to Hong Kong

Before FPS, the HKMA wrote in September 2018, a transfer between banks often took "a day or so", there were few ways to top up an e-wallet from a bank account, and you could not move money between e-wallets at all. FPS put banks and SVFs on one platform [5]. It was one of seven "Smart Banking" initiatives the HKMA announced in September 2017 [4].

Date Step
Dec 2017 An HKMA working group finalises the Common QR Code Specification for retail payments [8] [13]
17 Sep 2018 FPS launches: registration of mobile numbers and email addresses opens at 21 banks and 10 SVF operators; HKICL's free HKQR app, which merges several QR codes into one, goes live the same day [3] [4]
28 Sep 2018 Activation ceremony: "over 450 thousand" registrations [4]
30 Sep 2018 Full launch: anyone can send and receive money through FPS [3] [10]
End 2018 2.03 million registrations [9]
26 Nov 2023 Suspicious Proxy ID Alert warns payers before they pay a high-risk number, email or FPS ID [19]
4 Dec 2023 FPS x PromptPay: QR payments between Hong Kong and Thailand [16]
22 Jun 2025 Payment Connect links FPS with the mainland's Internet Banking Payment System (IBPS) [18]
Sep 2026 22.0 million registrations; 84.6 million HKD payments worth HK$831 billion in the month [9] [10] [11]

HKICL publishes monthly figures as spreadsheets. These are the year totals for HKD FPS, and registrations at the end of each year [9] [10] [11]:

Year Registrations (year end) HKD payments HKD value
2019 4.02 million 43.7 million HK$818 billion
2021 9.62 million 263.7 million HK$2,239 billion
2023 13.60 million 530.2 million HK$4,451 billion
2024 15.80 million 714.9 million HK$6,538 billion
2025 18.92 million 868.0 million HK$8,623 billion

In 2025 that is about 2.38 million HKD payments a day. The HKMA's own figure for 2023, 1.25 million transactions and HK$9.0 billion a day [15], matches HKICL's real-time payments only; HKICL's totals also count batch payments [10] [11]. One user can hold several registrations, so registrations are not people. At the end of September 2026, 12.67 million registrations used a mobile number, but only 6.98 million different numbers; HKICL counts 15.8 million unique proxies across all types [9].

The HKMA said in March 2024 that person-to-person payments were over 90% of FPS traffic at launch, while e-wallet top-ups, bills, merchant and business payments had grown to 50% of turnover [15].

How to use it

Who can use it. All banks and e-wallet operators in Hong Kong may join FPS [1]. You need an account at a participating bank or SVF; HKICL lists 36 banks and 9 SVFs that offer real-time services [12]. Only the payee needs to register; a payer just uses the transfer function in their app [3].

Register to receive. In your bank or e-wallet app, link a proxy to your account [7]:

  • Mobile number or email address. You can link the same number to accounts at several banks and pick one as the default for incoming money [7]. Hang Seng also accepts overseas phone numbers [23].
  • FPS ID, a 7- or 9-digit number the system generates for one account or e-wallet [7]. It lets you be paid without giving out your phone number or email.
  • HKID number, only for receiving payments such as salaries and government payouts from institutions that already hold your HKID. It links to one sole-name account, never a joint one [7] [24].

At Hang Seng you can register up to 4 proxies, and registration usually takes effect within seconds [23].

Send. Choose FPS in your app, enter the payee's mobile number, email, FPS ID or account number, and the amount. Before you confirm, you "may see the masked name" of the payee and their bank or e-wallet [7]. Check the name and amount before you confirm [7].

Pay or be paid by QR. Scan an FPS QR code with your bank or e-wallet app. To be paid, open "Show code to receive" (Hang Seng's wording), set an amount if you like, and let the payer scan it [7] [23]. A payee's QR code contains their proxy ID and bank name, so HKICL advises showing it only when needed [7].

Direct debits (eDDA). An electronic direct debit authorisation lets an e-wallet or merchant pull money from your bank account in real time, for top-ups or online shopping. In the standard mode you set it up, with a limit, in your own online banking; in the simplified mode the e-wallet starts it after you agree [5]. You can cap each authorisation and cancel it through your bank [7]. Real-time direct debits were 44% of HKD FPS payments in September 2026 (37.6 million of 84.6 million) [10].

Request money. Show a QR code with an amount, or use Hang Seng's "Share bill" to set a total or per-person amount [23]. Hang Seng also has a "Pull Money" function, up to HK$1,500,000 a day; it is free at Hang Seng, but the paying bank may charge [23].

Limits and fees

FPS itself sets no consumer limit for local transfers: each bank and SVF sets its own [7].

Provider Small-value FPS limit Higher limits Fee to you
HSBC HK$10,000 a day for all small-value Digital Banking payments, FPS x PromptPay included [22] Up to HK$400,000 a day to non-registered payees; up to HK$3,000,000 per registered payee [22] Not stated on the limits page
Hang Seng HK$10,000 a day [23] HK$400,000 to non-registered payees; HK$1,500,000 master limit to registered payees; own accounts unlimited [23] FPS registration and payments "currently free" [23]
BOCHK Not published on its FPS page Not published "No handling fee" for local FPS transfers [24]
Octopus Wallet (SVF) Per-transaction FPS receiving limit HK$3,000 (Lite), HK$6,000 (Plus), HK$10,000 (Pro) [25] Daily fund-transfer limit HK$3,000, HK$8,000 or HK$20,000 by tier [25] P2P free; transfers out free up to HK$3,000 a month, then 1% of the excess (minimum HK$1) [25]

At Hang Seng a new payee starts with a limit of 0, and you need two-factor authentication to raise it [23]. HSBC sets its cross-border master limit to HK$0 by default, so you must raise it before your first PromptPay payment [22]. At its 2018 launch the HKMA called FPS "free for small-value transfers" [4]. Paying a government bill by FPS QR code is free [7].

Limits change; check your bank's current terms.

Paying shops and businesses

Shops. A merchant can show a static FPS QR code, and you type the amount; or a dynamic one with the amount already in it [13]. The HKQR app lets a small shop combine the static codes of several payment schemes into one printed code [8].

Online. At checkout, choose FPS and pick your bank; the shop sends you to your banking app to confirm [23]. HKICL says these app-to-app and web-to-app payments cost the payer nothing [7].

Bills and government. Over 90% of government departments accept FPS, for utility bills, taxes, rates and government rent, the HKMA said in March 2024 [15].

Businesses. Companies can register a mobile number, email or FPS ID as corporate proxies: 292,997 corporate registrations at the end of September 2026 [9]. Institutions such as employers can pay salaries to a person's HKID proxy [7] [15].

Paying across borders

Thailand (FPS x PromptPay), since 4 December 2023. Hong Kong travellers scan Thai PromptPay merchant QR codes, and Thai travellers scan Hong Kong FPS merchant codes. HKICL and Thailand's NITMX link the two systems; HSBC and Bangkok Bank settle. Seven banks and two SVFs from Hong Kong took part at launch [16]. HKICL caps it at HK$10,000 a day [7], and HSBC and Hang Seng count it against the HK$10,000 small-value limit, at the prevailing exchange rate [22] [23]. In March 2024 the HKMA said the average payment was below HK$200 [15]. See PromptPay QR.

Mainland China (Payment Connect), since 22 June 2025. Payment Connect links FPS with the mainland's IBPS for small, instant transfers between personal accounts. Six institutions on each side took part at launch [18]; by 2 September 2026 the HKMA listed 26 in Hong Kong and 18 on the mainland, among them HSBC, BOCHK, Hang Seng and WeChat Pay HK [17].

Northbound (Hong Kong → mainland) Southbound (mainland → Hong Kong)
Who can send Hong Kong ID card holders Mainland ID card holders
Hours 24x7 7:00 to 23:00 daily
Pay to Mobile number or bank account number Mobile number, email, FPS ID or account number
Limit HK$10,000 a day and HK$200,000 a year per person, per institution Within the USD 50,000 yearly foreign-exchange quota

Source: HKMA, revised 8 September 2026 [17]. The payee must hold a personal account, and some features vary by institution [17]. Neither the HKMA page nor HKICL's FAQ publishes fees; ask your bank [7] [17].

e-CNY. Some banks let you top up a mainland e-CNY wallet through FPS; at Hang Seng this counts against the HK$10,000 small-value limit and the wallet holds at most CNY 10,000 [23]. See e-CNY QR.

Is there an FPS QR code in Hong Kong?

Yes. FPS QR codes follow the Common QR Code Specification for Retail Payments in Hong Kong, Merchant-Presented Mode, version 1.0 of December 2017, written by an HKMA working group whose members included HKICL, HSBC, BOCHK, Alipay, WeChat Pay HK, Octopus, UnionPay, Visa and Mastercard [13] [14]. It is built on EMVCo's merchant-presented QR specification [13], so an FPS code has the same tag-length-value layout as other EMVCo MPM codes.

What the specification fixes for Hong Kong [13]:

  • ID 26 of the merchant account templates is reserved for FPS. IDs 27 to 31 are held for future Hong Kong use, and other payment operators take IDs 32 to 51 in order, not fixed slots.
  • ID 62 sub-ID 50, in the additional data template, is reserved for FPS.
  • Each template starts with a globally unique identifier (sub-ID 00) naming the payment operator.
  • Because several schemes can share one code, operators should keep to the predefined additional fields (bill number, reference label and so on), since the template holds only 99 characters.

The specification does not list the data elements FPS puts inside ID 26; we have not seen that FPS-specific layout in a public document, so we don't describe it here. HKICL's consumer FAQ says a payee's code carries their proxy ID, their bank or e-wallet name and sometimes the amount [7].

On paper in Hong Kong you will meet: FPS QR codes on government and utility bills and shop counters [7] [15]; combined HKQR codes, where one printed sticker serves several schemes [8]; and wallet-only codes such as the PayMe PayCode (PayMe code), Alipay QR, WeChat Pay QR and UnionPay QR. Thai travellers' apps read FPS merchant codes through the PromptPay link [16].

Safety: the high-risk payee

Online shopping fraud is the common FPS scam: you pay a seller's mobile number or FPS ID, and the goods never come. Police counted a 23.2% rise in online shopping fraud in the first half of 2023, and 4,800 of those cases involved FPS, The Standard reported [21].

On 26 November 2023 the HKMA, the Hong Kong Police Force and HKICL launched the FPS Suspicious Proxy ID Alert at 44 banks and SVFs. If the payee's mobile number, email or FPS ID is labelled "High Risk" in the police's Scameter, your app shows a warning before you pay [19]. By the end of June 2024 over 655,000 alerts had been issued, about 3,000 a day; from 4 August 2024 the alert also covers transfers by account number [20].

  • Check the masked name your app shows before you confirm. If it isn't who you expect, stop [7] [19].
  • Don't pay when in doubt, alert or no alert. Check a number in Scameter, or call the police Anti-Scam Helpline 18222 [19] [20].
  • Keep your app updated and download it only from official stores: the alert only works in current versions [19] [20].
  • Paid the wrong person? Tell your bank or e-wallet at once and ask for the FPS transaction reference number [7].

FPS and the alternatives in Hong Kong

Way to pay Best for Notes
FPS Paying anyone at any bank or e-wallet, bills, online checkout Free at the banks read here; usually HK$10,000 a day small-value [22] [23] [24]
PayMe Splitting bills between PayMe users HSBC's wallet; sends to other banks over FPS (wallet page)
Octopus Transport and small shop payments by tap Card and app; the app sends and receives FPS transfers [25] (wallet page)
AlipayHK and WeChat Pay HK Merchant QR payments in Hong Kong and the mainland FPS participants [12]
BoC Pay+ BOCHK customers paying FPS and UnionPay QR Wallet page
Payment Connect Small transfers to a mainland personal account Runs over FPS; HK$10,000 a day [17]

Sources

  1. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "Faster Payment System (FPS)", last revised 10 Jul 2025, read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-functions/international-financial-centre/financial-market-infrastructure/faster-payment-system-fps/
  2. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "快速支付系統「轉數快」", last revised 10 Jul 2025, read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/chi/key-functions/international-financial-centre/financial-market-infrastructure/faster-payment-system-fps/
  3. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "The Launch of Faster Payment System (FPS)", 17 Sep 2018. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2018/09/20180917-3/
  4. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "FPS Activation Ceremony", 28 Sep 2018. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2018/09/20180928-3/
  5. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Financial Infrastructure Department, "Implementation of a Faster Payment System in Hong Kong", Quarterly Bulletin, 28 Sep 2018. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/publication-and-research/quarterly-bulletin/qb201809/fa2.pdf
  6. Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, "FPS Overview", read 21 Oct 2026. https://fps.hkicl.com.hk/eng/fps/about_fps/overview.php
  7. Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, "Frequently Asked Questions (Consumers)", read 21 Oct 2026. https://fps.hkicl.com.hk/eng/fps/consumers/frequently_asked_questions.php
  8. Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, "QR Code Standard", read 21 Oct 2026. https://fps.hkicl.com.hk/eng/fps/merchants/qr_code.php
  9. Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, "Faster Payment System Addressing Service Registrations" (XLSX, to Sep 2026), read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hkicl.com.hk/files/page_file/125/12925/Faster Payment System Addressing Service Registrations.xlsx
  10. Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, "Turnover of HKD FPS payment (Volume)" (XLSX, to Sep 2026), read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hkicl.com.hk/files/page_file/125/12926/Turnover of HKD FPS payment (Volume).xlsx
  11. Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, "Turnover of HKD FPS payment (Value)" (XLSX, to Sep 2026), read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hkicl.com.hk/files/page_file/125/12927/Turnover of HKD FPS payment (Value).xlsx
  12. Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, "List of FPS participants providing real-time services", read 21 Oct 2026. https://fps.hkicl.com.hk/eng/fps/about_fps/participant.php
  13. Working Group on Common QR Code Standard for Retail Payments in Hong Kong (HKMA), "Common QR Code Specification for Retail Payments in Hong Kong, Merchant-Presented Mode", version 1.0, Dec 2017. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/key-functions/financial-infrastructure/infrastructure/retail-payment-initiatives/Common_QR_Code_Specification.pdf
  14. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "Other Retail Payment Infrastructure", last revised 30 Apr 2026, read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-functions/international-financial-centre/financial-market-infrastructure/other-retail-payment-infrastructure/
  15. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, inSight, "The Faster Payment System – transcending boundaries and connecting with everyday lives", 27 Mar 2024. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/insight/2024/03/20240327/
  16. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "Launch of FPS x PromptPay Link between Hong Kong and Thailand", 4 Dec 2023. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2023/12/20231204-3/
  17. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "Payment Connect" (consumer page), last revised 8 Sep 2026, read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/smart-consumers/payment-connect/
  18. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "The HKMA and the PBoC Launch Payment Connect", 20 Jun 2025. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2025/06/20250620-4/
  19. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "Launch of the Faster Payment System Suspicious Proxy ID Alert", 27 Nov 2023. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2023/11/20231127-4/
  20. Hong Kong Monetary Authority, "Expansion of Suspicious Account Alert for internet banking and physical branches transactions", 1 Aug 2024. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2024/08/20240801-5/
  21. The Standard, "FPS now offers fraud alerts", 28 Nov 2023. https://www.thestandard.com.hk/finance/article/58187/FPS-now-offers-fraud-alerts
  22. HSBC Hong Kong, "Limits for transfers and payments", read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hsbc.com.hk/transfer-payments/limits/
  23. Hang Seng Bank, "Faster Payment System (FPS)", read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.hangseng.com/en-hk/personal/banking/fps/
  24. Bank of China (Hong Kong), "Faster Payment System (FPS)", read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.bochk.com/en/more/ebanking/fps.html
  25. Octopus Cards Limited, "Octopus Wallet FAQ" (as of 11 Jun 2026), read 21 Oct 2026. https://www.octopus.com.hk/en/consumer/customer-service/faq/wallet/about.html

Researched 21 October 2026. Limits and bank offerings change; the banks' own pages are authoritative.

source · content/payments/HK/fps/index.md