Welfare money for HK seniors flows to Guangdong

A ceremony launching an initiative to support the direct cross-border distribution of welfare allowances to the domestic bank accounts of Hong Kong seniors residing in Guangdong province took place in Guangzhou, Guangdong, on Thursday.

During the event, 10 elderly Hong Kong individuals received welfare allowances in Hong Kong dollars distributed cross-border by the special administrative region's Social Welfare Department.

Since taking effect in early July, the initiative has benefited more than 100 Hong Kong seniors living in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The initiative was launched to connect with the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department's cash assistance cross-border remittance service. It supports the direct cross-border distribution of comprehensive social security assistance, the old age living allowance and old age allowance to the domestic bank accounts of the seniors.

Those people need only complete a one-time account registration with the social welfare department in Hong Kong or its Guangdong agency and link their mainland bank accounts.

After the procedure, their monthly allowances are automatically deposited, eliminating the need for the previously cumbersome process of traveling back and forth between Guangdong and Hong Kong.