Wise and HK company

[MrGoodman]

Hello. I wonder if anyone had the following issue after opening a Wise business account for a Hong Kong company: when you have made the initial transfer and your business becomes verified, you still cannot see no account details, currencies or balances in the Wise profile. What is to be done next? If there are some restrictions for HK companies, why do they onboard HK companies? Their support is not responsive either.

 

[ilke]

Myotra said:
Hello. I wonder if anyone had the following issue after opening a Wise business account for a Hong Kong company: when you have made the initial transfer and your business becomes verified, you still cannot see no account details, currencies or balances in the Wise profile. What is to be done next? If there are some restrictions for HK companies, why do they onboard HK companies? Their support is not responsive either.
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You can register a Wise account as a Hong Kong company, but you can only use it for making Wise transfers to other users by the use of your funds with a bank.

It is because of the MSO licenses in HK - Wise doesn't have a partner bank yet for providing HK accounts (like Statrys has DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, and Airwallex has Standard Chartered Bank). You can go for one of those 2, they are the best for companies in HK no doubt. Statrys is pretty nice since you get 1 account number for around 15 currencies. Airwallex is stricter, but you can get local accounts via banks in other countries / EAs they are licensed in. Currenxie works too. You might get onboarded by some less restrictive EU EMIs like Bankera (Pervesk) or Verifo as well.

 

[MrGoodman]

ilke said:
You can register a Wise account as a Hong Kong company, but you can only use it for making Wise transfers to other users by the use of your funds with a bank.

It is because of the MSO licenses in HK - Wise doesn't have a partner bank yet for providing HK accounts (like Statrys has DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, and Airwallex has Standard Chartered Bank). You can go for one of those 2, they are the best for companies in HK no doubt. Statrys is pretty nice since you get 1 account number for around 15 currencies. Airwallex is stricter, but you can get local accounts via banks in other countries / EAs they are licensed in. Currenxie works too. You might get onboarded by some less restrictive EU EMIs like Bankera (Pervesk) or Verifo as well.
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Thank you for sharing this. I wonder why anyone may need HK Wise account then, if it should always replenish it from its own account and pay only to Wise customers. This is useless. I will look at those EMIs that you mentioned. However, I heard that recently Airwallex got rid of all non-resident HK businesses as Airwallex wants its shares to be listed on the stock exchange.

 

[ilke]

Myotra said:
Thank you for sharing this. I wonder why anyone may need HK Wise account then, if it should always replenish it from its own account and pay only to Wise customers. This is useless. I will look at those EMIs that you mentioned. However, I heard that recently Airwallex got rid of all non-resident HK businesses as Airwallex wants its shares to be listed on the stock exchange.
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They want to be listed on a stock exchange - True
They got rid of non-resident HK businesses - False

I know tens of people with HK companies (including myself) that continue to use Airwallex, some without even having ever been to HK. If you want to have EUR IBAN for SEPA/SWIFT, USD local account number at CFSB for Fed, ACH or SWIFT or any local account details (no SWIFT though), Airwallex does a decent job. Statrys is more reliable for Hong Kong transfers (it supports AutoPay) and the fact that it has most currencies with just 1 account number. They also used to provide EUR (sometimes also GBP) IBANs, but those days are gone with the collapse of UAB Payrnet.

 

[Forester]

Just to add, I consider Currenxie more open and in the same time more predictable/reliable than Airwallex. (But YMMV, of course.) Technically, they have in addition to SWIFT (using Citi HK) similar network of local payment solutions (comparing to Airwallex), although they lack e.g. NZD local payments.

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[thomasparra]

Forester said:
Just to add, I consider Currenxie more open and in the same time more predictable/reliable than Airwallex. (But YMMV, of course.) Technically, they have in addition to SWIFT (using Citi HK) similar network of local payment solutions (comparing to Airwallex), although they lack e.g. NZD local payments.
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I am currently comparing Airwallex, Currenxie and Stratys.

Airwallex and Currenxie seem much more comprehensive and suitable than Statrys, and they also do not charge a maintenance fee.

Airwallex seems to be more cost efficient on "local" payments as they are free, and it works in 90 countries including EU, US, HK, SG etc so most countries someone would need to work with. However they are more expensive for SWIFT payments (Currenxie: USD 8 vs 12-20 for Airwallex).

In terms of opening and maintaining the account, I don't know if Currenxie is easier or better.

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 12, 2023

 

[CoinMaster]

thomasparra said:
Airwallex and Currenxie seem much more comprehensive and suitable than Stratys, and they also do not charge a maintenance fee.
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What is the maintainance fee ?

Why do you think so ?

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[Forester]

thomasparra said:
I am currently comparing Airwallex, Currenxie and Stratys.
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StATRys, just a typo 😉 (but repeated 🙂 ; I edited it once to help the search engine)

thomasparra said:
Airwallex and Currenxie seem much more comprehensive and suitable than Stratys, and they also do not charge a maintenance fee.

Airwallex seems to be more cost efficient on "local" payments as they are free, and it works in 90 countries including EU, US, HK, SG etc so most countries someone would need to work with. However they are more expensive for SWIFT payments (Currenxie: USD 8 vs 12-20 for Airwallex).
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Yes, this is worth mentioning.

thomasparra said:
In terms of opening and maintaining the account, I don't know if Currenxie is easier or better.
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Well, this is exactly the problem that I witnessed with Airwallex in the last ~1.5 years repeatedly. Onboarding was a pain ”“ sometimes the process simply froze somehow with no reaction from their side, sometimes they did not onboard the company where I really saw no reason; and sometimes they suspended the account in a Wise-like 😉 style (no reason that I can get).

CoinMaster said:
What is the maintainance fee ?
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88 HKD/month, IIRC. (Have a look at their webpages, they are transparent re: fees.)

Last edited: Dec 12, 2023
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[ilke]

Forester said:
StATRys, just a typo 😉 (but repeated 🙂 ; I edited it once to help to the search engine)

Yes, this is worth mentioning.

Well, this is exactly the problem that I witnessed with Airwallex in the last ~1.5 years repeatedly. Onboarding was a pain ”“ sometimes the process simply froze somehow with no reaction from their side, sometimes they did not onboard the company where I really saw no reason; and sometimes they suspended the account in a Wise-like 😉 style (no reason that I can get).

88 HKD/month, IIRC. (Have a look at their webpages, they are transparent re: fees.)
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Interesting, the issue you describe with onboarding at Airwallex is what we usually experienced with Currenxie. The company would remain pending without any updates, or get unreasonably rejected. Also, at least from the time I used it, at first, the account details had your beneficiary as Currenxie - (COMPANYNAME) instead of the name itself, that was later amended, but the local account details were not in your company's name. I don't know if it's gotten better since then, I had experience with them 2-3 years ago.

Statrys' 88 HKD per month fee isn't too bad, you have an account manager, direct support on WhatsApp, transparent information, all-in-one multicurrency acct. number, decent cards (although I believe Airwallex is the only HK EMI with Apple Pay, Google Pay and very reliable corporate & employee cards). I can see why some people wouldn't like working with Statrys though, it depends a lot on the countries you work with as well.

 

[MrGoodman]

Thank you for all the comments. Unfortunately, Airwallex closed the company's account, and Currenxie and Statrys rejected the business.

I am thinking about Wise for HK Businesses: why do they provide such accounts if it is impossible to use them for payments? Or despite of the fact that there are no account details, one still can receive payments from non-Wise counterparties and send payments outside Wise? By the way, they gave dedicated account details for the initial transfer for account verification, which does not make sense to me.

 

[ilke]

Myotra said:
Thank you for all the comments. Unfortunately, Airwallex closed the company's account, and Currenxie and Statrys rejected the business.

I am thinking about Wise for HK Businesses: why do they provide such accounts if it is impossible to use them for payments? Or despite of the fact that there are no account details, one still can receive payments from non-Wise counterparties and send payments outside Wise? By the way, they gave dedicated account details for the initial transfer for account verification, which does not make sense to me.
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You can't receive or send payments outside Wise as a HK company. They provide the account because some businesses that are involved in sending money to people can use Wise to get cheaper transfers or pay out specifically to Wise accounts. They are working on a partnership with ZA Bank in Hong Kong, but they can't provide the MSO solutions before getting the partner bank prepared. If none of the HK MSOs onboarded you, the business might be risky / problematic, or you didn't provide a suitable description of the business.

You might be able to get an account with @swissmoney if you need a dedicated IBAN just for EUR and pooled IBANs. You could also try Bankera / Pervesk, the fees are pretty expensive, but if you are fine with that, the solutions are not bad (@Gediminas can also help you as an introducer). Lastly, I can potentially suggest Mistertango, but the compliance is pretty complex after all those fines a few years ago (and the pricing is still bad). They can take HK companies though.

 

[Forester]

ilke said:
Interesting, the issue you describe with onboarding at Airwallex is what we usually experienced with Currenxie. The company would remain pending without any updates, or get unreasonably rejected.
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Really interesting ”“ as I am hearing this for the first time. Well, as I've written: YMMV. (In today's banking, really anyone's mileage may vary :/ )
BTW, for this case of silence, did you try to call the clerk who was caring about the case? (TBMK, in the signature of every e-mail from Currenxie there is a phone number to the person undersigned.)

ilke said:
Also, at least from the time I used it, at first, the account details had your beneficiary as Currenxie - (COMPANYNAME) instead of the name itself, that was later amended, but the local account details were not in your company's name. I don't know if it's gotten better since then, I had experience with them 2-3 years ago.
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Yes, contemporary accounts are in the company name ”“ TBMK. It changed ~1.5 year ago, as far as I rememeber. (But one older account that I can see is still as Currenxie - COMPANYNAME.)

ilke said:
Statrys' 88 HKD per month fee isn't too bad, you have an account manager, direct support on WhatsApp, transparent information, all-in-one multicurrency acct. number, decent cards (although I believe Airwallex is the only HK EMI with Apple Pay, Google Pay and very reliable corporate & employee cards).
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I second that.

ilke said:
You can't receive or send payments outside Wise as a HK company. They provide the account because some businesses that are involved in sending money to people can use Wise to get cheaper transfers or pay out specifically to Wise accounts. They are working on a partnership with ZA Bank in Hong Kong, but they can't provide the MSO solutions before getting the partner bank prepared.
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Thanks for sharing the background...

ilke said:
You might be able to get an account with @swissmoney if you need a dedicated IBAN just for EUR and pooled IBANs. You could also try Bankera / Pervesk, the fees are pretty expensive, but if you are fine with that, the solutions are not bad (@Gediminas can also help you as an introducer). Lastly, I can potentially suggest Mistertango, but the compliance is pretty complex after all those fines a few years ago (and the pricing is still bad). They can take HK companies though.
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I would add Verifo and Paysera to the list; and I consider them better to go than Bankera and/or Mistertango. (I do not have enough information re: Swissmoney as this EMI is quite new.)

Last edited: Dec 13, 2023
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[MrGoodman]

ilke said:
You can't receive or send payments outside Wise as a HK company. They provide the account because some businesses that are involved in sending money to people can use Wise to get cheaper transfers or pay out specifically to Wise accounts. They are working on a partnership with ZA Bank in Hong Kong, but they can't provide the MSO solutions before getting the partner bank prepared. If none of the HK MSOs onboarded you, the business might be risky / problematic, or you didn't provide a suitable description of the business.

You might be able to get an account with @swissmoney if you need a dedicated IBAN just for EUR and pooled IBANs. You could also try Bankera / Pervesk, the fees are pretty expensive, but if you are fine with that, the solutions are not bad (@Gediminas can also help you as an introducer). Lastly, I can potentially suggest Mistertango, but the compliance is pretty complex after all those fines a few years ago (and the pricing is still bad). They can take HK companies though.
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You were quite right about Wise, they confirmed that they cannot offer balances for HK companies. It is only possible to use your Wise account to receive money using your external or personal bank account.

 

[MrGoodman]

Hi, everyone, My research on this matter tells me that it has become very difficult to find any good alternative for a HK company. EMIs either consider HK high risk in general and make it very expensive to maintain the account (some British, Cypriot, Lithuanian EMIs do) or they just do not onboard these businesses (Revolut, Unlimit). It has really become tough, despite of the fact that the company's activity is software development (not high risk), and it has been running for several years. If you know any other EMI, besides Aiwallex, Currenxie, Statrys, that offers adequate fees for HK, please share. By adequate I mean international payments for less than 100 EUR and no or minimal account maintenance fee.

 

[ilke]

MrGoodman said:
Hi, everyone, My research on this matter tells me that it has become very difficult to find any good alternative for a HK company. EMIs either consider HK high risk in general and make it very expensive to maintain the account (some British, Cypriot, Lithuanian EMIs do) or they just do not onboard these businesses (Revolut, Unlimit). It has really become tough, despite of the fact that the company's activity is software development (not high risk), and it has been running for several years. If you know any other EMI, besides Aiwallex, Currenxie, Statrys, that offers adequate fees for HK, please share. By adequate I mean international payments for less than 100 EUR and no or minimal account maintenance fee.
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Bankera, Verifo, and Vialet will accept HK and have a higher risk appetite. They will definitely take a few hundred EUR for account opening. You may also end up with no SWIFT if you go for Vialet (only EUR SEPA).

You can also try Payswix. They will take around 400 EUR to open the account and around 60 EUR monthly for the account. They request more documents and have a lower risk appetite than the previous 3 though.

Swissmoney, which is an advertiser on the forum, could also be worth a try. I don't have any experience with them yet, though.

Zen will be the cheapest for your purpose. They currently offer the basic accounts for free (at least according to the site), but they are/were normally 25 EUR monthly. You will get an EUR SEPA LT IBAN, Polish PLN IBAN, and several other currencies, but at least from my experience, nearly all of them were processed via TCCL, which is a bit problematic with some jurisdictions, although they don't have an issue with HK.

You can also try some UK EMIs, there are tons, I'm not sure which one would be the best for HK.

 

[Forester]

MrGoodman said:
EMIs either consider HK high risk in general and make it very expensive to maintain the account (some British, Cypriot, Lithuanian EMIs do)
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Would you mind sharing what you mean by “very expensive” and also the names of EMIs you are speaking about? (I just wonder...)

MrGoodman said:
By adequate I mean international payments for less than 100 EUR and no or minimal account maintenance fee.
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Well, I think that the limit 100 EUR for one payment is pretty high, nevertheless, some 2 figures monthly maintenance fee is quite expectable...

ilke said:
You can also try some UK EMIs, there are tons,
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About 300 or more entities, I think 🙂

ilke said:
I'm not sure which one would be the best for HK.
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Neither am I. 3sMoney? FGC (https://www.fgc-capital.com/)? Interpolitan Money?

But generally (@MrGoodman, do not take it personally, please), if Airwallex closed the company's account and Currenxie and Statrys rejected the business, then it simply does not smell well to me. I do not think that for a standard software development company with several years of history it should happen... Strange.

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If you think it makes sense, you can like it; if opposite, please, tell me, why I am wrong...

 

[MrGoodman]

Forester said:
Would you mind sharing what you mean by “very expensive” and also the names of EMIs you are speaking about? (I just wonder...)
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E.g., Verifo that was mentioned here. HK falls under their Pro package which costs 800 eur for account opening + 50 eur deposit + 200+ eur per month for account maintetnance. SWIFTS are 0,80%. They charge for incoming transfers as well. I consider it quite expensive for small businesses.

 

[MrGoodman]

ilke said:
Bankera, Verifo, and Vialet will accept HK and have a higher risk appetite. They will definitely take a few hundred EUR for account opening. You may also end up with no SWIFT if you go for Vialet (only EUR SEPA).

You can also try Payswix. They will take around 400 EUR to open the account and around 60 EUR monthly for the account. They request more documents and have a lower risk appetite than the previous 3 though.

Swissmoney, which is an advertiser on the forum, could also be worth a try. I don't have any experience with them yet, though.

Zen will be the cheapest for your purpose. They currently offer the basic accounts for free (at least according to the site), but they are/were normally 25 EUR monthly. You will get an EUR SEPA LT IBAN, Polish PLN IBAN, and several other currencies, but at least from my experience, nearly all of them were processed via TCCL, which is a bit problematic with some jurisdictions, although they don't have an issue with HK.

You can also try some UK EMIs, there are tons, I'm not sure which one would be the best for HK.
Click to expand...

In regards to the SwissMoney: they take 450 EUR for onboarding, which is fine. I wonder how much they will take as a monthly maintenance. If no more than 150 EUR, then it is worth a try.

 

[ilke]

MrGoodman said:
In regards to the SwissMoney: they take 450 EUR for onboarding, which is fine. I wonder how much they will take as a monthly maintenance. If no more than 150 EUR, then it is worth a try.
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You can speak to them regarding monthly pricing. AFAIK, the minimum monthly pricing is 100 EUR, so not too bad. But, you only get a dedicated IBAN for EUR via FoxPay, the other currencies are pooled via a Bank Frick account.

 

[Forester]

MrGoodman said:
E.g., Verifo that was mentioned here. HK falls under their Pro package which costs 800 eur for account opening + 50 eur deposit + 200+ eur per month for account maintetnance. SWIFTS are 0,80%. They charge for incoming transfers as well. I consider it quite expensive for small businesses.
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Oh. Honestly, I have not seen such pricing with Verifo until now. Surprising. I agree that's quite expensive for small businesses, really. Thanks for sharing.

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I am just a simple countryman. Anything I say is only a personal opinion, not a certified advice 🙂

If you think it makes sense, you can like it; if opposite, please, tell me, why I am wrong...