Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited SWIFT/BIC code

What HKSCHKHH means for a payment to Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited

HKSCHKHH and HKSCHKHHXXX are two ways of writing the same SWIFT/BIC code, and both lead to Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited in Hong Kong. The code does one job: it makes sure that an international payment ends up at the right bank. You will need it mainly when dealing with payments that cross a border.

On this page you can read how the code means, when you need it and which other details a transfer to or from Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited requires. The BIC identifies an institution, never a specific account.

Receiving money from abroad at Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited

If you are waiting for a payment from another country, give the sender all details at once. Give them the account holder’s name, the IBAN or account number, SWIFT code HKSCHKHHXXX and your address, which some banks require.

Certain banks want the address of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited; it does no harm to include it. Check each detail before you share them, because the sender’s bank usually copies them as is.

What lands in your account can be less than the amount sent. Charges on incoming payments vary from bank to bank – the price list of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited tells you what applies. On invoices, you can agree who bears the costs.

When will the money arrive at Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited?

How quickly a payment reaches Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited is determined by a few things: the currency, the number of banks in between, daily processing deadlines and differences in time zone. Weekends and public holidays in either country can add extra days to the journey. Occasionally a bank wants to know about the purpose of a payment, which can hold things up.

Many banks use SWIFT gpi for faster and traceable payments. Each gpi transfer gets a unique transaction reference, the UETR. Save your transfer receipt until the recipient confirms – you will need it for any trace request.

If the money does not arrive within the expected time, the person who paid should contact the bank that sent it. Ask the sender for the payment receipt with the date and reference – it helps your own bank look for the money.

Why Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited has an 8- and an 11-character code

A SWIFT code is made up of a few fixed parts: the first four letters stand for the bank, characters five and six show the country and characters seven and eight mark the location. That gives you HKSCHKHH, the short form of the code.

The 11-character version has three more characters for a branch or department. When those three characters are XXX, the code points to the head office, which is why HKSCHKHHXXX and HKSCHKHH lead to the same place.

Type the code as one block, in upper case and without spaces, exactly as shown here. Watch for the letter O and the digit 0 or the letter I and the digit 1; they are easy to mix up.

Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) and conversion costs

Most accounts at Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited are usually held in HKD, the local currency of Hong Kong SAR China. If you send another currency it has to be converted somewhere along the way – by your bank, by Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited or by a bank in between. Every conversion eats into something, even when no fee is shown.

Who converts the money matters, because each party uses its own rate. Transferring the money already in HKD often avoids a second conversion – as long as your own rate is good.

The HKD rate fluctuates constantly, so the amount you see is usually only valid for a short time. With bigger transfers, a small difference in the rate can be worth more than the fee.

Verifying the SWIFT code of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited

Ask the recipient to copy the bank details straight from a recent statement. When the code you were given does not match HKSCHKHH or HKSCHKHHXXX, stop and ask.

With a wrong code, the payment might be delayed, bounce back or cost extra, and tracing it can take weeks. An error in the IBAN or account number is more serious, because the money may be credited to someone else, so check that just as carefully.

Most online banking apps check the format of IBANs and sometimes look up the BIC automatically – that confirms the format, not the owner. Some banks now check the payee name with the account before you confirm. A small test payment is a sensible step for a large first payment.

How up to date is this code?

This directory is compiled from publicly available sources and is updated regularly. Even so, banks merge, rename themselves or change codes, so information can be out of date. The figures we show reflect what is in our directory.

Treat our directory on this page as a helpful check and rely on the recipient or Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited for the final confirmation. We are a comparison service and not affiliated with Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited. If you notice something that is out of date, we welcome a message.

What a transfer from Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited abroad really costs

If you transfer money to another country through Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited, the visible fee is rarely all of the cost. There is the transfer fee, sometimes charges from correspondent banks in between and, above all, the exchange rate markup when the money is converted.

Banks rarely show their exchange rate markup separately – you only notice it if you compare. A simple test: put the rate you get against the mid-market rate and look at the difference.

Specialised transfer providers frequently use rates closer to the mid-market rate and lower fees. GoldexPay lists these services next to each other so you can see the amount the recipient gets before you commit. You can still keep your account at Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited as the source of the money.

Which of the 3 codes of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited do you need?

With 3 codes in 1 cities, Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited is one of the banks that register separate codes for branches and departments. The head office code remains HKSCHKHHXXX.

Unless the recipient tells you otherwise, go with HKSCHKHHXXX or its short form HKSCHKHH. A branch code only makes sense if the account holder specifically asks for it, which is more common for corporate accounts and specialised services.

Unsure which code to use? Check with the recipient. Branch codes are more prone to change than the head office code.

Watch out for payment fraud

Be alert if someone suddenly wants you to pay into another account. A valid SWIFT code says nothing about whether the request is genuine – scammers simply use real codes.

Check changed payment details via a different channel like a call to a number from an earlier contract, not by replying to the message. Pressure and requests to keep it quiet are warning signs; a genuine business can wait for you to check. Already paid? Contact your bank without delay and have them try to recall the payment; also report it to the police.

Scams can also work the other way: someone claims to have sent too much and wants you to return the difference via a different route. A screenshot of a transfer proves nothing; only your own account shows what has arrived.