HSBC refunds up to HK$20,000 in interest payments to small Hong Kong businesses to help them cope with trade war, protests
- SMEs in two loan schemes will get back what they paid between March and August, up to a maximum of HK$20,000 each
HSBC will refund up to HK$20,000 (US$2,548.96) in interest payments to its small-and-medium enterprise customers to help them cope with the challenges arising from the China-US trade war and the increasingly violent protests that have rocked Hong Kong.
The biggest of three note-issuing banks in the city is the first lender to take action to help the SMEs, which are facing the worst economic crisis in a decade. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has warned the city might go into recession in the third quarter and face job losses.
The lender, the biggest in Hong Kong and Europe, is offering an interest rebate to SMEs under two types of loan on repayments made between March and August, up to HK$20,000 each.
Hang Seng Bank, a subsidiary of HSBC, will also offer the same six-month interest rebates of up to HK$20,000 to its SMEs customers under the same loan programmes.
The two schemes are the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme and the SME Loan Guarantee Scheme, which are both guaranteed by the government.
SMEs who take out these loans must pay a fee for the government to guarantee the loan. Last year HSBC began to offer a subsidy of up to HK$50,000 for them to pay the fee.
The bank will extend the subsidy by two more years until June 30, 2022, instead of ending it in the middle of next year, as previously planned.
HSBC will also cut the fee paid by merchants for its PayMe business by half to 0.75 per cent from 1.5 per cent from September 2 until the end of the year.