(Yicai Global) Feb. 27 -- As of the end of last month, 235,000 accounts belonging to permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao had been opened with Chinese mainland banks since the People’s Bank of China launched a trial allowing them to open accounts with select mainland lenders via local banks in 2019, according to the latest official data.

“The pilot has provided a better and more convenient payment service for Hong Kong and Macao residents for clothing, food, housing and transport on the mainland since its launch,” an official with the PBOC’s Guangzhou branch said. “It is fully recognized by local governments, financial regulators and all sectors of society.”

The account owners completed 15.7 million transactions worth CNY11.3 billion as of the end of January, the data showed. Mobile transaction made up more than 70 percent of the total, effectively facilitating Hong Kong and Macao residents’ payments for public transport, medical care, shopping, eating and other daily needs on the mainland, the PBOC’s branch pointed out.

The branch began the trial in Hong Kong in March 2019 and in Macao in December 2019, allowing permanent residents aged 18 or more to open accounts at the branches of local partner banks of the select mainland lenders without going to the mainland. The residents can make convenient payments in the mainland after opening the accounts and linking them with mainland mobile payment apps.

Besides the two initial participants, Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the PBOC’s Guangzhou branch approved China Construction Bank, China Merchants Bank and Bank of East Asia to join last September. The account opening services are available in 286 branches in Hong Kong and 56 bank branches in Macao.

“Amid closer economic and trade exchanges and people-to-people exchanges in the Greater Bay Area, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao residents have higher expectations for seamless financial payment services,” the official said.

“We’ll continue to build a barrier-free living circle of payment services in the Bay Area and accelerate the launch of a number of advanced payment achievements for residents in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to share,” he added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Peter Thomas