HSBC Expat eligibility criteria

You are eligible for an HSBC Expat account (including some specific products and features such as Global Money) only if:

• The laws and regulations that apply to you or in the place you live allow it;
• You meet the eligibility criteria in the Tariff of Charges found on our website; and
• You always maintain a minimum relationship balance (“Relationship Balance”) with us, except in the circumstances listed below

If your citizenship or residency changes you must tell us. The products and services we offer may change and we may not always be able to offer all products and services to you.

You must always maintain a minimum Relationship Balance with us, except:

• For the first 3 full calendar months after your HSBC Expat account is opened
• If you hold an active HSBC Premier relationship with any part of the HSBC Group that meets the eligibility requirements for HSBC Premier in the country where it is held (for avoidance of doubt, this option is not available to Advance customers)
• If you are a Premier customer and have an annual sole salary that meets our salary criteria as detailed in the Tariff of Charges on our website. Note: For joint accounts, only one of you needs to meet the salary criteria

If you don’t maintain the Relationship Balance with us when required, we may charge you an underfunding fee (“Underfunding Fee”). Details of the minimum Relationship Balance and Underfunding Fee can be found in the Tariff of Charges on our website and these amounts may change.

We charge an Underfunding Fee for each calendar month that an HSBC Expat Relationship doesn’t meet the eligibility criteria. You may have more than one relationship with us (e.g. a sole relationship and a joint one) and the eligibility criteria apply separately to each of them. Your sole balance(s) cannot count towards any joint balance(s). It is your responsibility to ensure that you maintain the minimum Relationship Balance for each relationship you have with us. If you are charged the Underfunding Fee you authorise us to deduct this from one or more of your HSBC accounts. We usually apply the Underfunding Fee in the calendar month following a month when you don’t hold the minimum Relationship Balance.

• The total average daily credit balance of all your HSBC Expat accounts and HSBC Expat investments, calculated at the end of each calendar month
• If you have one or more HSBC Expat accounts in your name, we look at all of your HSBC Expat accounts to make the calculation
• If you have one or more joint HSBC Expat accounts, we include those joint accounts in our calculations

This means that if you have both joint accounts and sole accounts with us, you may be eligible for a different service for your sole accounts compared with your joint accounts. This may affect the fees and charges that you pay and the services and benefits that are available to you.