Lai See | Hang Seng Bank's solution to the UnionPay problem

Readers may recall that last year we had occasion to write extensively about HSBC's ATM card and the UnionPay fiasco. Today we are revisiting the story but it is Hang Seng Bank rather than HSBC which is the object of our interest.

The banks, under orders from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, were told that for security reasons the magnetic strip on older ATM cards should be replaced by a chip.

For reasons that are not entirely clear, the new chip cards were linked to one payment network while the older cards were linked to at least two payment networks. HSBC initially produced a new chip card which would only link to UnionPay, resulting in howls of anguish from customers who found they were unable to access their accounts when they tried to use the card outside Asia.

Indeed, there were reports of difficulties even in Asia. People were advised to link their Visa cards to one of their accounts, although this ploy often misfired as not all ATM machines could perform this task and people found themselves paying high interest rates. Eventually, HSBC announced it would produce a second ATM card employing a chip which accessed the Cirrus and Plus networks, and these seem to be working okay.

But we have recently heard from a reader with Hang Seng who complains that the bank's ATM card is only linked to the UnionPay network. When he complained about the well-known difficulties associated with UnionPay, the bank advised him to link his Visa card to one of his accounts, which as we know can be a hit and miss.

When we spoke to the bank we were told that customers who wanted access to Plus and Cirrus payments networks could apply for a Hang Seng Bank Alpha card, which has been in operation since 2006.

This is a spending card with ATM functions and is linked to a customer's designated Hong Kong dollar accounts. It can, the bank assures us, be used to conduct ATM transactions through MasterCard/Cirrus/HSBC networks around the world. To get the card, customers can visit Hang Seng branches or call the Hang Seng credit card service hotline.