I recently had an account opening experience in Hong Kong and got an interesting result—HSBC and Bank of China were stuck in manual approval, while ZhongAn went through instantly.

The reason was that I saw HSBC would start charging new accounts from January 1, 2026. With time tight, I decided to handle it before the New Year. But since weekends are crowded, I planned to go again on a weekday.

My first attempt was on the morning of December 22, leaving from Shenzhen Bay Port. I took the B3X bus (HKD 16.5) to Tuen Mun Town Centre, where HSBC is located on the second floor of Tuen Mun Town Plaza Phase II. I wanted to apply directly, but got stuck on the entry-exit record—there was a problem with the immigration system. I waited until 3:30 PM but nothing came through, so I had to give up and return to Shenzhen. Ironically, just 20 minutes after entering Shenzhen, the record finally appeared. I heard many others experienced the same issue that day, with severe system delays.

The second time, I diverted to Tin Shui Wai, taking the B2P bus (HKD 11.3) to the Kingswood Lakeview station. I connected to Wi-Fi at HSBC and applied directly, but ended up in the manual approval queue—people in Tuen Mun the day before had gone through instantly, but this day I had to wait. I tried applying again, but the result was the same. The staff said that as long as it’s in approval, I just have to wait patiently; there’s no inquiry portal.

Feeling a bit frustrated, I then went to McDonald's to try Bank of China, but it was also manual approval. At that moment, I felt a bit hopeless.

Fortunately, when I finally applied to ZhongAn, I went through instantly, which saved my mood.

My advice to others is: before going, it’s best to check the delay status of the entry-exit records so you don’t waste a trip to Hong Kong. Timing is very critical.