HSBC and Foreign Cheques

Mita

I inherited Hong Kong shares 25 years ago and dividends (usually approx £350 annually) are always paid in Hong Kong dollar cheques. Barclays stopped taking foreign cheques so I opened an HSBC Global money account but they’re going to be stopping international cheques from 12 December. The Hong Kong company have said they can’t do bank transfer and I l’d have to open a bank account in Hong Kong which I don’t want to do.  Any advice will be welcome including how I can sell them as the banks / platform can’t help. Many thanks

gt94sss2

A Foreign Currency Account at HSBC will accept cheques.

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/currency-account/

You can then transfer the funds to your Global Money account before using them.

wmb194

Mita said:

I inherited Hong Kong shares 25 years ago and dividends (usually approx £350 annually) are always paid in Hong Kong dollar cheques. Barclays stopped taking foreign cheques so I opened an HSBC Global money account but they’re going to be stopping international cheques from 12 December. The Hong Kong company have said they can’t do bank transfer and I l’d have to open a bank account in Hong Kong which I don’t want to do.  Any advice will be welcome including how I can sell them as the banks / platform can’t help. Many thanks

Another option is to sell the shares and the issue goes away.

Dicentra

I have the same problem, my UK bank is also going to stop foreign cheques from December. I was looking at which banks still allow foreign cheques and thought HSBC currency account was one of them, but noted your comment that HSBC global money account will stop cheques in December, do you know if this includes HSBC currency account?

I am unable to setup a wire money transfer as it is not permitted by the US bank, it does not accept UK international money transfer account info such as IBAN, only routing and account number. Therefore I was looking at HSBC as alternative to paying foreign cheques until I read this thread. The other option I have read about is to setup a WISE account which I believe provides the account details required by US bank so I can wire/transfer money to a wise account then transfer to a UK bank.

Interested in anyone thoughts on this or someone with similar experience and solved the problem, thanks.

gt94sss2

Dicentra said:

I have the same problem, my UK bank is also going to stop foreign cheques from December. I was looking at which banks still allow foreign cheques and thought HSBC currency account was one of them, but noted your comment that HSBC global money account will stop cheques in December, do you know if this includes HSBC currency account?

The HSBC Global Money account had never accepted cash or cheque deposits.

I certainly haven't been informed that their currency account will no longer accept foreign cheques - it would be quite an illogical move for HSBC to do.

wmb194

Dicentra said:

I have the same problem, my UK bank is also going to stop foreign cheques from December. I was looking at which banks still allow foreign cheques and thought HSBC currency account was one of them, but noted your comment that HSBC global money account will stop cheques in December, do you know if this includes HSBC currency account?

I am unable to setup a wire money transfer as it is not permitted by the US bank, it does not accept UK international money transfer account info such as IBAN, only routing and account number. Therefore I was looking at HSBC as alternative to paying foreign cheques until I read this thread. The other option I have read about is to setup a WISE account which I believe provides the account details required by US bank so I can wire/transfer money to a wise account then transfer to a UK bank.

Interested in anyone thoughts on this or someone with similar experience and solved the problem, thanks.

Definitely look at Wise. On its USD account it has domestic US ACH account details which Americans should find easy to understand. You then convert it into sterling (or whatever) and then transfer out.

gt94sss2

gt94sss2 said:

Dicentra said:

I have the same problem, my UK bank is also going to stop foreign cheques from December. I was looking at which banks still allow foreign cheques and thought HSBC currency account was one of them, but noted your comment that HSBC global money account will stop cheques in December, do you know if this includes HSBC currency account?

The HSBC Global Money account had never accepted cash or cheque deposits.

I certainly haven't been informed that their currency account will no longer accept foreign cheques..

An update - HSBC UK have confirmed that they will stopped accepting all foreign cheques after the 12 December 2025

SiliconChip

Mita said:

...including how I can sell them as the banks / platform can’t help. Many thanks

I haven't looked into the detail but it appears that ii are able to trade Hong Kong shares, take a look at their guide to see if it offers any help.

https://www.ii.co.uk/investing-with-ii/international-investing/markets/hong-kong

wmb194

SiliconChip said:

Mita said:

...including how I can sell them as the banks / platform can’t help. Many thanks

I haven't looked into the detail but it appears that ii are able to trade Hong Kong shares, take a look at their guide to see if it offers any help.

https://www.ii.co.uk/investing-with-ii/international-investing/markets/hong-kong

WeBull as well but I suspect that the OP's problem is that their shares are certificated and most brokers won't accept them. They'd probably need to try to sell them via the registrar.