A Hong Kong CHATS payment (HKD RTGS)
A high-value Hong Kong dollar payment settles one-for-one across the banks' settlement accounts at the HKMA, individually and immediately — as long as the paying bank has the balance.
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Bank Alfa submits the payment to CHATS
Bank Alfa (paying bank) → CHATS / HKICL · CHATS payment instruction
Bank Alfa sends the payment instruction into HKD CHATS, the Hong Kong dollar real-time gross settlement system. CHATS also clears USD, RMB, and EUR, but this payment runs on the HKD system. Nothing has moved yet — it is a message.
Step 1 of 5: Bank Alfa submits the payment to CHATS
- 02ProcessingCHATS checks the settlement-account balanceCHATS / HKICL
- 03SettlementThe HKMA settles the payment individuallyBank Alfa (paying bank) → Nordbank (receiving bank)
- 05PostingNordbank books the fundsNordbank (receiving bank)
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
- 02ProcessingCHATS checks the settlement-account balanceCHATS / HKICL
CHATS reads whether Bank Alfa's settlement account at the HKMA holds enough to cover HKD 8,000,000.00. An RTGS payment settles immediately only when there is sufficient balance to settle it.
- 03SettlementThe HKMA settles the payment individuallyBank Alfa (paying bank) → Nordbank (receiving bank)
On the HKMA's book the payment settles individually and on a gross basis — Bank Alfa's settlement account is debited and Nordbank's is credited, one payment at a time, in central-bank money. Settlement is immediate.
- DR Bank Alfa's settlement account at the HKMA — HKD 8,000,000.00
- CR Nordbank's settlement account at the HKMA — HKD 8,000,000.00
- 05PostingNordbank books the fundsNordbank (receiving bank)
Because the interbank leg already settled with finality across the settlement accounts, Nordbank can book the funds to its customer without waiting for anything else.
- CR Beneficiary's account at Nordbank — HKD 8,000,000.00
What this simplifies: One HKD payment settling gross. Real CHATS operation depends on intraday liquidity management, queue optimisation, and operating cut-offs across the whole day.
Sources for this flow2
- Official requirement
CHATS and the Faster Payment System (FPS) ↗ — Hong Kong Monetary Authority
FPS is designated as part of HKD CHATS and RMB CHATS; the HKMA provides the settlement book for HKD FPS.
- Simplified educational illustration
Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal
What this simplifies: Fictional banks and a single HKD payment; real CHATS operation involves many participants, queue-optimisation mechanisms, and cut-off times across four currencies (HKD, USD, RMB, EUR) not shown here.
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.