HSBC in the UAE seems to be a pioneer when it comes to funky features for their offshore bank account customers.
It is interesting to keep an eye on the developments they make in terms of the services they offer their offshore customer base. Chances are, if the services they offer are well subscribed to they will become available from the other major offshore bank players in time.
The most recent addition to the services HSBC are offering their customers in the UAE is the ability to sign up for SMS account activity and update alerts.
The concept is simple, busy HSBC offshore bank account customers in the UAE will be kept up to date with all important transactions and account activities via an SMS alert service which will deliver real time messages direct to the customer’s phone.
The alerts a customer can currently sign up for include: -
Deposit/credit transactions - if money is deposited or credited to the customer’s account above or below a defined amount, they will be informed.
Withdrawal/debit transactions - if money is withdrawn or debited from the customer’s account above or below a defined amount, they will be informed.
Balance alert - the customer will be informed whenever their account balance rises or falls below a defined threshold figure.
HSBC realise they are pioneering and have put in place active and stringent security measures to protect customers who sign up for this service. For example, they say a customer should never reply to an SMS, nor should they supply details of their accounts, their PINs, or account nicknames if requested to do so, as such a request would never come from HSBC. They advise customers that the only number they could ever be asked to call would be their customer contact centre, and if ever they suspect an HSBC SMS has been sent from a ‘foreign’ source they should report the incident immediately.
The service is initially being offered free to personal Current or Saving account customers who have an active UAE mobile phone line. But you can be sure that this service will be developed upon and extended if, as is expected, the service proves to be a winner.
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