Launch of Electronic Cheque (e-Cheque) publicity campaign

Press Releases

23 Nov 2015

Launch of Electronic Cheque (e-Cheque) publicity campaign

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today the launch of the e-Cheque publicity campaign.  Jointly organized by the HKMA and the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB), the publicity campaign aims to enhance the public understanding of the e-Cheque service before it is rolled out by the participating banks in phases from 7 December 2015 onwards.

The e-Cheque is an electronic counterpart of the paper cheque and turns the cheque writing and deposit processes completely online.  Similar to paper cheque, e-cheque is governed by the Bills of Exchange Ordinance for legal protection; also it does not require the payee to disclose the sensitive personal information such as the bank account number to the payer.  Besides, it has a number of new strengths: no need for physical delivery and presentment, more stringent security features, a high level of system automation, and more environmentally friendly.

In the initial stage, nine banks* will offer e-Cheque issuance services to their customers through the Internet banking platform and/or mobile banking platform. Also, all banks are able to accept their customers to deposit e-Cheques through the Internet banking platform, mobile banking platform and/or the e-Cheque Drop Box service provided by the Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited.  It is expected that the number of banks offering e-Cheque issuance services will increase gradually.

To help members of the public better understand the e-Cheque service, the HKMA and the HKAB have jointly developed a series of educational materials such as Announcements in the Public Interest (API) on television and radio, posters and electronic brochures.  Such educational materials will be available to the public through various channels starting from today.

Mr Peter Pang, Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA, said, “The implementation of e-Cheque will lead Hong Kong into a new era of electronic payment.  I hope the educational materials will help the public to better understand the key features of e-Cheque, its significant advantages over paper cheque, and the smart way of using e-Cheque.  Together with the HKAB, we will continue our efforts to raise the public awareness of the e-Cheque, and reinforce their understanding of the new service.”

Bank customers are encouraged to contact their banks directly for the details upon the launch of e-Cheque service on 7 December 2015.  More information of the e-Cheque can also be found in the attached leaflet (Annex)(Accessible version).

 

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority
23 November 2015

*The 9 banks which will offer e-Cheque issuance service in the initial stage include Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Chiyu Banking Corporation, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank, Nanyang Commercial Bank, The Bank of East Asia, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Wing Lung Bank.

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Last revision date : 23 November 2015