Despite the local government’s efforts to make the territory a crypto hub, crypto firms in Hong Kong are having trouble opening corporate bank accounts.According to a story in the Hong Kong Economic Journal, the director of commercial and client services at the Hang Seng Bank, which is owned by HSBC, said that while authorized cryptocurrency businesses can open a bank account, they will only be able to receive a “simple” one.What services were not included in such an account was not stated in the study.
Even while banks are free to provide services to crypto firms, they are reluctant to do so because of a lack of employees at the Securities and Futures Commission and the difficulty in opening bank accounts for crypto companies applying to operate in Hong Kong.
The central bank of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), has asked significant lenders, such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Bank of China, to accept cryptocurrency exchanges as clients.
“We have active dialogues with virtual asset players to exchange views on a range of topics, including but not limited to account opening,” an HSBC spokesperson said. “We remain very engaged on policies and developments of this nascent industry in Hong Kong.”
In a previous interview, a Standard Chartered spokeswoman stated that the company maintains “regular dialogue” with authorities on a variety of topics.OSL and Hash Blockchain are the only two virtual asset trading platforms that currently have licenses from Hong Kong’s security regulator.