GLOBAL PAYMENTS KNOWLEDGEISO 20022 / SWIFT / SEPA / MT / MX
PAYMENTSSIGNAL

The interactive academy for the standards, messages, and rails that move money.

GET IN TOUCH
FPS (HONG KONG)

Unknown FPS proxy: a Hong Kong payment that fails up front

Trigger: The FPS proxy (mobile number, email or FPS ID) does not resolve to a registered account.

Contributor Shubham Mathure

What operations sees first: The payment stops before any debit; the payer is told the FPS proxy could not be found.

WHERE IS THE MONEY?

Never left Riya's account — the proxy never resolved.

DID SETTLEMENT HAPPEN?

No settlement; the payment failed at proxy resolution.

WHO ACTS NEXT?

Riya Riya checks Arjun's registered FPS proxy and retries.

PLAY THE EXCEPTION

Trigger: The mobile number or FPS ID Riya used is not registered to any account in the FPS addressing directory, so there is no destination to pay.

STEP 1 / 4MESSAGE

Riya pays using Arjun's mobile number

Riya (payer) → Bank Alfa (sending bank) · FPS payment instruction

Riya asks Bank Alfa to send HKD 600.00 to Arjun using his mobile number or FPS ID — a proxy address. She never has to know or type his account number, and FPS runs around the clock, so this works at night.

Step 1 of 4: Riya pays using Arjun's mobile number

  1. 01Message
    Riya pays using Arjun's mobile numberRiya (payer) → Bank Alfa (sending bank) · FPS payment instruction
  2. 02Message
    FPS resolves the proxy to Arjun's accountBank Alfa (sending bank) → FPS / HKICL · FPS addressing lookup
  3. 03 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    FPS returns 'no registered account'FPS / HKICL → Bank Alfa (sending bank) · FPS addressing response
  4. 04 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    Riya is told the payment could not be sentBank Alfa (sending bank) → Riya (payer) · Failure notice
  5. OUTCOME
    Funds
    Never left Riya's account — no debit was ever booked.
    Settlement
    No settlement occurred; the payment failed before the interbank leg.
    Who acts next
    Riya (payer) — Riya checks the mobile number or FPS ID and re-enters it, or asks Arjun to confirm his registered proxy.
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
  1. 01Message
    Riya pays using Arjun's mobile numberRiya (payer) → Bank Alfa (sending bank) · FPS payment instruction

    Riya asks Bank Alfa to send HKD 600.00 to Arjun using his mobile number or FPS ID — a proxy address. She never has to know or type his account number, and FPS runs around the clock, so this works at night.

  2. 02Message
    FPS resolves the proxy to Arjun's accountBank Alfa (sending bank) → FPS / HKICL · FPS addressing lookup

    The Faster Payment System looks up the mobile number or FPS ID in its addressing directory and finds it points to Arjun's account at Nordbank. Only the mapping travels here — this message carries no money.

  3. 03 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    FPS returns 'no registered account'FPS / HKICL → Bank Alfa (sending bank) · FPS addressing response

    The addressing lookup finds nothing, so FPS tells Bank Alfa the proxy could not be resolved. Because this happens before any debit, Riya's money has not moved at all.

  4. 04 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    Riya is told the payment could not be sentBank Alfa (sending bank) → Riya (payer) · Failure notice

    Bank Alfa shows Riya that the mobile number or FPS ID is not registered, so nothing was sent. She can check the number and try again.

  5. OUTCOME
    Funds
    Never left Riya's account — no debit was ever booked.
    Settlement
    No settlement occurred; the payment failed before the interbank leg.
    Who acts next
    Riya (payer) — Riya checks the mobile number or FPS ID and re-enters it, or asks Arjun to confirm his registered proxy.

THE TIMELINE

  1. 01Riya
    Enters Arjun's FPS proxy (his mobile number) to send HKD 600.00 — no account number is shared.
  2. 02FPS / HKICL
    Cannot resolve the proxy to a registered account and stops the payment.

    FPS addressing only works when the proxy maps to a real account; an unregistered proxy fails the payment.

  3. 03Bank Alfa
    Never debits Riya; her app shows the FPS proxy could not be found.

Resolution: FPS resolves the proxy to a real account before authorising. An unresolved proxy fails the payment up front, so there is no debit and nothing settles on the HKMA/CHATS book.

LEARN THE CONCEPTS

Sources for this scenario2
  1. Official requirement

    CHATS and the Faster Payment System (FPS) ↗ — Hong Kong Monetary Authority · FPS addressing

    Describes Hong Kong CHATS (Clearing House Automated Transfer System, the RTGS operated by Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited under the HKMA, settling every transaction individually and gross in central bank money for HKD, USD, RMB and EUR) and the Faster Payment System (FPS, launched 17 September 2018, 24x7, addressed by mobile number or email, funds available almost immediately, settled on the HKMA book as part of HKD/RMB CHATS). · Checked 2026-07-14

    FPS is designated as part of HKD CHATS and RMB CHATS; the HKMA provides the settlement book for HKD FPS.

  2. Simplified educational illustration

    Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal

    This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12

    What this simplifies: Single-cycle teaching model; participant-specific handling and exact timings vary.

    Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.