(Yicai) Sept. 15 -- Opening bank accounts in Hong Kong for Chinese mainland citizens has become more difficult despite no official tightening regulation having been implemented, according to customer managers at various Hong Kong lenders.

Chinese mainland tourists may be unable to open accounts in some local banks or have to face longer and more drawn-out procedures if they wish to open only wealth management accounts, a manager at BOC Hong Kong told Yicai.

"People relocating to Hong Kong from the mainland for work are not a few this year, and this drove the need of opening bank accounts and deposit," a customer manager at Standard Chartered Hong Kong explained to Yicai.

Mainlanders need to make a reservation with BOC Hong Kong two months in advance if they wish to open a local bank account, the miniprogram of the lender's official WeChat account showed. Before, the period was only a week, with appointments available also in popular business areas.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority followed the United States Federal Reserve's move and hiked interest rates to between 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent. Local banks have interest rates on fixed-term offshore Chinese yuan, US dollar, and Hong Kong dollar deposits of 2 percent, more than 4 percent, and over 3.5 percent, respectively.

In addition to the demand for savings and financial management products, Chinese mainland residents also aim to buy local insurance products. In the mainland, life insurance products with dividends have an average compound annualized rate of less than 3.5 percent, while in Hong Kong, US dollar-denominated insurance products with dividends have a rate of over 5 percent.

Hong Kong dollar, Chinese yuan, and US dollar deposits in Hong Kong have gradually increased, up 0.6 percent, 5.6 percent, and 0.8 percent, respectively, as of June 30 from a year earlier, data from the HKMA showed.

Most institutes believe the Fed has ended its rate hike cycle, while some still think there might be another increase in November. If the cycle has indeed ended, then the deposit interest rates in Hong Kong dollar and US dollar will likely decline.

The Fed will not continue raising rates given the US economy's slowdown and gradual inflation decline, the head of Global Markets Research at Nomura Holdings recently told Yicai. The Fed will keep the rate at a relatively high level for some time to take a wait-and-see attitude, he noted, expecting the first rate cut will happen after March next year.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione