Citibank promotion for opening new account.

[blryoda]

**Disclaimer: I am no Citi employee, just moved to HK on a 2 year work term. Hopefully this information helps others trying to get an account open here in HK.

So, Citibank is apparently running a promotion to open CitiGold Accounts with a "waived off" minimum balance requirement (which is otherwise $1M HKD). All they need is for you to show them your employee contract with a HKD 50K+ p/month payroll setup with the CitiGold account.

I think this is a pretty good deal, I have a Citi account in my home country to took up the offer immediately.

There's more information on their website but in general appears to be a good deal - higher interest rates on savings, dedicated relationship manager (take it with a grain of salt, we all know the quality of this), free global citi transfer if you have a citi account elsewhere.

The salesman even offered to get me a Credit Card so that is in progress now.

There was minimum documentation required, I don't even have an HKID yet, so it was all done with my passports, company id card, and employment contract.

The highlight: I walked into the branch and walked out within an hour with an account #, and an activated ATM card in hand.

This is the Taikoo Shing branch. I'm happy to connect you with the salesman, send me an email.

[bookblogger]

All they need is for you to show them your employee contract with a HKD 50K+ p/month payroll

Oh, is that all?

[blryoda]

Well, I get the sarcasm but compared to the millions of documents and hundreds of bank visits I am used to back home, this is significantly different - to get a bank account in a country with no credit history! I'm sure there's a few of us here that can take advantage of this promotion.

[bookblogger]

Yes, I'm sure there are.

[jgl]

Oh, is that all?

Remember all the "be nice to new people" conversations we were having last week?

There have been threads in the past to the effect that it's a pain in the ass to set up accounts with some banks, so this is a good thread.

[pin]

Can I just check one thing. Do they require you to set up a payroll account with them, or just show your contract or pay slips? Any real benefit of Citi Gold over SCB premium or whatever it's called?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using GeoClicks mobile app

[wtbhotia]

Oh, is that all?

Yeah, you leave this newbie alone or somebody going to get hurt real bad

[jgl]

Can I just check one thing. Do they require you to set up a payroll account with them, or just show your contract or pay slips? Any real benefit of Citi Gold over SCB premium or whatever it's called?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using GeoClicks mobile app

IIRC SCB Premium or whatever it's called still requires some kind of non-trival minimum balance, even if you're using it as your payroll destination.

[blryoda]

Can I just check one thing. Do they require you to set up a payroll account with them, or just show your contract or pay slips? Any real benefit of Citi Gold over SCB premium or whatever it's called?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using GeoClicks mobile app

Yes, they require that you setup your payroll account with them. If you have a payroll account elsewhere they'd help you transfer over. Normally, the CitiGold requires a payroll account, and a 1M HKD deposit. In this case, the latter is waived off (although your payroll should be 50K+ HKD p/month).

I did not compare this with SCB so I wouldn't know.

[blryoda]

Yeah, you leave this newbie alone or somebody going to get hurt real bad

Thumbs up! for quoting Russel Peters.