On a hot summer's day, full-time mother Peon Liu Kwai-lin dreads the trip to her local ATM. Struggling with the heat and her two young children, the Lam Tin resident has no choice but to take a minibus from Hong Ying Court to Lam Tin MTR station to access cash. If she wants counter services, the nearest manned branch is in Kwun Tong and getting there costs HK$8 and takes more than an hour for a return trip.
Ms Liu, 40, has no other options after two of the largest banking corporations, HSBC and Hang Seng Bank, in the past year shut their branches in the area which has more than 10 private and public housing estates.
'This is outrageous,' Ms Liu said. 'There isn't one branch in Lam Tin. There are ATMs, cash and cheque-deposit machines only. But old people have trouble using machines. They can't even see the key pads clearly. Their passwords or ATM cards could be easily stolen.'
Across town at Lai Chi Kok, full-time driver Brian Cheung, 36, said whenever he needed cash, the nearest ATM to his home in Hoi Lai Estate was in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, a 20-minute walk away.
Further from the city, Tin Shui Wai resident Tang Wing-leung, 43, said he once spent more than two hours in a queue just to settle his children's school fees because there wasn't a local branch of his bank. The car servicing worker complained that there was no banking counter service available near his home, Tin Heng Estate.
Their tales are indicative of a growing centralisation of bank services as the corporate giants move to cut costs and streamline services amid a push to improve profits.