ZA Bank#

I registered for ZA Bank on the bus to the hotel. It was still under review then, but the account was approved on August 17 and could be used immediately.

My ZA referral code is A29WB2. Registering with it may provide various coupons worth about 1K HKD. Completing extra tasks, such as linking WeChat Pay HK, can unlock offers like a 10 HKD rebate on a 100 HKD payment.

I would not recommend opening the investment account unless you actually need it. Trading Hong Kong or US stocks generally requires funds sourced outside mainland China, which many visitors probably do not have, unless you do—in that case, ignore me.

ZA offers two reward modes. “PowerDraw” gives lottery chances, while the investment-linked option returns shares and is more stable, but requires the investment account mentioned above.

ZA charges a 1.95% fee for spending in currencies other than HKD. Referral users may also receive boosted fixed-deposit coupons. The offers I saw reached up to 2.7% annually for HKD deposits of at least 10,000 HKD and 3.7% for USD deposits of at least 2,000 USD, noticeably higher than many mainland rates.

HSBC#

I prepared an online HSBC ONE application on August 16 and successfully opened the account on August 17. Students can state their status honestly. For non-students, the employer field only accepts up to twenty English characters, so an English abbreviation may be necessary.

The default card was the blue lion card, which is more than enough for me.

The card appeared in the app on the first day. Although the activation page looked flexible, the physical card still had to arrive before activation. The account could receive funds but could not transfer them out on day one; I had to sign in again the next day and complete registration using the phone verification code.

The account required an average balance of 10,000 HKD to waive the management fee; otherwise the fee was 100 HKD per month, starting in the month after activation and assessed using a three-month average. Depositing enough during the activation month therefore seemed safest. Hong Kong fixed-deposit rates were also attractive enough that keeping the balance there was not entirely idle.

Ant Bank#

Registration is available through Alipay HK and also requires an ID card and Mainland Travel Permit. It lets you set a personal transfer limit and join some Alipay promotions.

Mox#

Mox is another virtual bank similar to ZA and is convenient for securities trading. If you do not need that and do not want another account to maintain, it is easy to skip. I did not open one this time.

Bank of China (Hong Kong)#

I submitted the BOCHK application by August 16, but it failed on August 17. Online applications appeared difficult to pass, especially for a student visiting only as a tourist. Booking an in-person appointment through the WeChat mini-program a week in advance may improve the odds.

That was an unfortunate exit. BOCHK runs a huge number of promotions. It feels like a quiet name on the mainland turning into a giant once it reaches Hong Kong.

Hang Seng#

Hang Seng seems similar to HSBC and can issue a physical Visa card. I heard the minimum balance for waiving fees was around 5K HKD, though some exchange features may be less convenient than HSBC. Since I already had the HSBC blue lion card, I skipped it.

Other accounts and services#

I also wanted to use a Hong Kong IP to apply for Stripe and Oracle Cloud, following this detailed personal Stripe guide. I completed a Payoneer HKD receiving account.

Stripe required a passport, which I forgot to bring. I registered anyway but the account was restricted, so I will see whether I can resolve it after returning to the mainland.

Oracle Cloud still rejected my attempt, so that part of the trip ended without an account.

CSL#

I successfully activated a 58 HKD orange CSL card. It included 20 HKD of credit and 20 GB of local data, and I also registered for The Club. Google said the number had already been used too many times for verification.

3HK#

I bought a 45 GB Greater Bay Area eSIM package from 3HK and completed real-name verification on August 18. It should also give me some Hong Kong-IP data after I return to the mainland.

Activation and Apple IDs#

I bought a Hong Kong iPhone 17 with eSIM and Apple Intelligence support. The phone automatically registered a Hong Kong Apple ID, which I plan to use mainly for overseas services.

On August 18, I also created a US Apple ID for apps and purchases unavailable in the Hong Kong store. Registering after signing out inside the App Store worked more reliably than using Apple’s website.

In the end, registration required receiving a call on a US number. After the account was created, I could switch the linked number back to my own +86 number.

Apps and services#

The main reason for the US account was downloading GPT and Claude. I also moved several apps from my Huawei phone to the iPhone and will continue adding the other tools I need.

Shadowrocket requires an in-app purchase, and the Hong Kong account can buy it. I used Alipay HK and my ZA card for purchases, then imported my own proxy nodes into Shadowrocket.

Both Hong Kong SIM cards failed to register Telegram and cost me 4 HKD in verification attempts. Future visitors probably do not need to repeat that experiment XD. I disputed the charges through Apple Services and received a refund two days later.

The Hong Kong iPhone will mainly handle overseas services, while the Huawei phone handles mainland services—a kind of digital “wet and dry separation.”

CSL failed to register WhatsApp, while the 3HK eSIM worked. I later added a +86 account too. WhatsApp currently allows two accounts in one app, and I did not feel like investigating whether CSL itself caused the first failure.

A few days later, WhatsApp triggered a risk-control check. Following support instructions fixed it. The verification code did not work for some reason, so I had to scan a QR code instead.