The new Digital Banking terms and conditions set out below will apply from 12th March 2023.
On this page:
- This Agreement
- What this Agreement covers
- Online and mobile banking
- Fees and charges
- How your online and mobile banking works
- Your duty to protect yourself and your devices
- Our liability to you
- Your information and privacy
- Communication and amendments
- Intellectual property and hyperlinks
- Termination of this Agreement
- Governing law
- Our regulatory details
1. This Agreement
These terms and conditions form a legally binding agreement between you and us. We call it the "Agreement". By saying "we" or "us", we mean HSBC Bank plc and, where relevant, the entire HSBC Group. This Agreement applies for so long as you are registered for our online or mobile banking services. By using those services, you agree to these terms.
This Agreement forms part of the relationship you have with us, together with other legal documents, such as privacy notices, the terms and conditions applicable to your HSBC bank account(s) and, if relevant, your other HSBC accounts and products. In particular, if you are accessing any HSBC accounts or products through our digital channels, the terms and conditions applicable to those accounts or products still apply.
2. What this Agreement covers
This Agreement incorporates the general terms and conditions which apply to the following HSBC digital offerings:
- Online Banking
- CI&IOM Mobile Banking App
You must be a customer of HSBC and hold an HSBC bank account before you can use any of these services.
If we find that we would be prohibited from offering you our services through these digital banking channels but you have already installed and are using all or any of them, we reserve the right to block your bank accounts and disable the services.
This Agreement only covers the digital offerings we mention above, not the underlying products you may have with us and which you might potentially access and operate using our digital channels (for example, bank accounts or certain investment solutions). You should check the applicable contracts for your banking products if you have questions about the products themselves.
If you are looking for information about how to contact us or make a complaint, please refer to the terms and conditions that apply to your accounts or our website.
3. Online and mobile banking
The online and mobile banking channels are digital options to make your banking experience with us smoother and more convenient. They allow you to access your accounts and other banking products and services from wherever you are, usually at any time, as long you have access to the internet.
Please be aware that not all of your HSBC accounts or banking services may necessarily be available through online or mobile banking.
What you need to do
- For access to online banking, you must first register for the service through our website or by calling us. We will provide you with guidance and information so you can get your online banking access established.
- If you also wish to use mobile banking, you must register for online banking first before you can successfully install and operate the CI&IOM mobile banking app on your smartphone.
What you can do
- Online and mobile banking allow you to make electronic payments.
- You will be able to access our International Investment Centre (IIC) through online banking and see your balance via the mobile banking app.
- You may be able to see products or services through your online or mobile banking that you have bought outside of these channels but hold through us, another HSBC Group company or certain third parties.
What you cannot do
The services and functionality we can offer you in our digital services channels depends both on the technology available and the laws and regulations of the countries we operate in. What we can and cannot provide to you will therefore change from time to time.
But for example only:
- you will not be able to access offerings such as financial advice through online or mobile banking. We do not solicit, recommend or advise on any financial products or services through the online or mobile banking channels
- you will not be able to use the mobile banking app to open new HSBC bank accounts, buy or sell shares or purchase insurance products
- you cannot transfer this Agreement to anybody else. However, we may transfer this Agreement to other members of the HSBC Group or third parties, should we so choose. We'll let you know if we do this
- whilst we give you a non-exclusive right to access our digital services like online or mobile banking, you cannot grant user licenses or any other rights to anybody regarding HSBC's digital products and services. You are also not allowed to use HSBC's logos, copyrights or branding for any purposes unless we grant you express permission
- you must not alter, modify, copy, reverse engineer or tamper with any part of our online or mobile banking products or services or copyright notices
4. Fees and charges
We don't charge you for using online or mobile banking and downloading the required software is also free of charge.
We also don't charge you for any tool or application you need to generate security codes to access your online or mobile banking. Our security features and the tools or applications you need to access your online or mobile banking will change as technology evolves.
You may still be charged for certain actions you do when using your online or mobile banking, for example, certain payments or money transfers you make. You can find details of such fees and charges on our website https://ciiom.hsbc.com/payment-limits/.
5. How your online and mobile banking works
Checking your identity
When you want to use online or mobile banking, we will ask for certain information to verify your identity before we may act on your instructions or grant you access to your accounts. Such security features could include passwords, signatures, security questions or codes, biometric data or information you use with your electronic device, e.g. a mobile number.
If we are not confident it's you:
- we may ask additional questions
- your transactions may be delayed
- we may not action or process your instructions
- we may even have to block your account
Keeping your accounts and assets safe is an important obligation of ours that we take very seriously. We will not compensate you if there is delay or you lose money as a result of our actions to protect your accounts or assets.
We will only act on instructions if we reasonably believe the instructions are given or authorised by you.
Availability of our online and mobile services
Our online and mobile banking services may not be available if we conduct maintenance or upgrades to ensure our digital environments and products are safe, up to date and compatible with supported devices, operating systems and browsers. If we undertake maintenance or improvement work to our online or mobile banking services, we will give you prior notice either by putting a notice on our website or by sending a letter to your correspondence address last made known to us. We may be unable to give you prior notice if the maintenance work is urgent and important due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
There could also be legal, regulatory, technical, political or other reasons beyond our control which could affect the availability of our services.
If mobile or online banking are not available, we will not offer compensation and are not liable to you for delay, inconvenience, losses or lost opportunities. We will be pleased to help through our branches or telephone banking channels.
You should also check you are using the latest versions of your browser, operating system and mobile app, as issues might occur if you are using outdated software to access our online and mobile banking services. Please also check with your internet and mobile provider should you experience connection problems or more general internet access issues.
Instructing HSBC
If you give us instructions through online or mobile banking, you cannot cancel these without us agreeing.
If you make a mistake in an instruction, e.g. a payment sent to a wrong recipient, please notify us immediately. Please also check any transaction confirmation or notification we send you and tell us at once if you spot an error. We will try hard to help and get your money back, but we cannot guarantee it.
Please submit your instructions in good time before daily cut-off times for the relevant service or products to avoid delays or your instruction falling into the next business day for processing. While all of our online and mobile services are quick compared to paper or telephone, it doesn't mean they function instantaneously.
Joint accounts
If you are a joint account holder, each person named on the account can register for the online and mobile banking services. Each joint account holder will have separate security details to access and use the services.
6. Your duty to protect yourself and your devices
It is paramount that you inform yourself how to properly protect your identity and your online and mobile banking access from unauthorised use, fraud, theft and other such risks.
We will never contact you with a request to tell us your security details in full or log into your bank account for us. Security details we ask of you will only ever be partial and for the purpose of verifying your identity and authorising particular instructions you are giving us, NOT for us gaining access to your account. If you have security concerns, please contact us – our website explains how you can reach us.
| Do's | Don'ts |
|---|---|
| If you use biometric data (e.g. fingerprints, facial recognition, retinal image, palm prints or voice recognition) to access your online or mobile banking or electronic devices, make sure only your own biometrics are registered on the device. | Don't use facial recognition if you have an identical twin sibling or your facial features undergo radical change (e.g. due to adolescence, accidents or facial surgery).
If you suffered an accident, surgery or injury which changes your facial features, it may be necessary to delete your former facial profile and re-programme the facial recognition software to recognise your new facial features. |
| Ensure your electronic devices always have the latest browser versions, anti-virus software and security updates. | Don't disable functions or settings which may affect your biometric data, e.g. disabling "Attention Aware" features for facial recognition on iOS. |
| Take all reasonable measures to prevent others from using your devices or having access to your banking or security information. | Don't be careless with your electronic devices and your online and mobile banking information. Keep your devices and banking information safe and secure at all times.
Do not access your online or mobile banking from devices which have been "rooted" or "jail broken", i.e. tampered with to disable or modify features installed by the manufacturer or provider without their authorisation. |
| Review your bank statements and tell us at once if you don't recognise a transaction. | Don't tell anybody your security details, including passwords, security questions that verify your identity or PINs. |
| Tell us immediately if you know or suspect that your accounts, security details, banking data or devices may have been used by somebody else or are not safe. | Don't download our mobile apps from unauthorised sources. Official App stores include the Apple and Google App stores. |
| Delete your banking apps and details if you sell or no longer use your device. Doing a factory reset is a good idea. | Be careful if you access online or mobile banking through public networks e.g. in cafes or airports. Only ever use your own devices to access online and mobile banking services. |
| Tell us immediately if you change your contact details or other personal information. | Don't let other people use your electronic devices. |
| Do's | If you use biometric data (e.g. fingerprints, facial recognition, retinal image, palm prints or voice recognition) to access your online or mobile banking or electronic devices, make sure only your own biometrics are registered on the device. |
|---|---|
| Don'ts |
Don't use facial recognition if you have an identical twin sibling or your facial features undergo radical change (e.g. due to adolescence, accidents or facial surgery).
If you suffered an accident, surgery or injury which changes your facial features, it may be necessary to delete your former facial profile and re-programme the facial recognition software to recognise your new facial features. |
| Do's | Ensure your electronic devices always have the latest browser versions, anti-virus software and security updates. |
| Don'ts | Don't disable functions or settings which may affect your biometric data, e.g. disabling "Attention Aware" features for facial recognition on iOS. |
| Do's | Take all reasonable measures to prevent others from using your devices or having access to your banking or security information. |
| Don'ts |
Don't be careless with your electronic devices and your online and mobile banking information. Keep your devices and banking information safe and secure at all times.
Do not access your online or mobile banking from devices which have been "rooted" or "jail broken", i.e. tampered with to disable or modify features installed by the manufacturer or provider without their authorisation. |
| Do's | Review your bank statements and tell us at once if you don't recognise a transaction. |
| Don'ts | Don't tell anybody your security details, including passwords, security questions that verify your identity or PINs. |
| Do's | Tell us immediately if you know or suspect that your accounts, security details, banking data or devices may have been used by somebody else or are not safe. |
| Don'ts | Don't download our mobile apps from unauthorised sources. Official App stores include the Apple and Google App stores. |
| Do's | Delete your banking apps and details if you sell or no longer use your device. Doing a factory reset is a good idea. |
| Don'ts | Be careful if you access online or mobile banking through public networks e.g. in cafes or airports. Only ever use your own devices to access online and mobile banking services. |
| Do's | Tell us immediately if you change your contact details or other personal information. |
| Don'ts | Don't let other people use your electronic devices. |
If you don't follow our guidance above and on our website or app about how to stay safe online, you may be liable for any consequences of a security breach.
If you let someone use your device or your security details, we will assume they are you and act on their instructions as if it were you. This includes allowing someone to register their biometric data on your device.
You will be responsible for any transactions on your account until you let us know that your account, security details, data or device are no longer safe. If we reasonably believe you gave us an instruction, we will act on it.
If you act fraudulently, intentionally do anything in contravention of this Agreement or there is gross negligence on your part, you will be liable for all losses. Gross negligence can happen, for example, where you fail to keep your passwords safe or don't inform us immediately that your account or electronic devices are not safe.
7. Our liability to you
- We are liable to you for losses or damage to your data, software, computer, telecommunications equipment or mobile phone where such loss or damage was solely and directly caused by our (or a third party we are directly responsible for) negligence, error or deliberate default in providing you with our online banking or mobile banking services
- We are also liable to you if we fail to do something we have agreed to do in this Agreement and you suffer a type and amount of loss that we could have reasonably foreseen and expected as a direct result of this failure
- We take reasonable care that any information we provide you with through our digital service offerings will be an accurate reflection of information in our computer systems or, if the information is supplied by a third party, an accurate reflection of what we received from that third party. We cannot promise, however, that information on our digital channels is always and absolutely error-free or accurate
- While we uphold very high standards of digital security, we cannot guarantee that no computer viruses, malware or other destructive, intrusive or contaminating properties could be transmitted through our digital channels
There are other places in this Agreement where we say what else we are or aren't responsible for and we encourage you to read this entire Agreement carefully.
8. Your information and privacy
If you change your name, address, phone number or email address, you must promptly tell us in writing or by calling us. We will always use the most recent contact details you have given us to communicate with you.
Our privacy notice can be found at https://ciiom.hsbc.com/privacy/. Although it does not form part of this Agreement, it is an important document that explains our data protection practices in connection with the personal information that we collect or otherwise process about you. We encourage you to read it.
9. Communication and amendments
Our website and our online and mobile banking services contain information about how you can contact us.
We will always communicate with you in English and all correspondence or enquiries you have for us must be in English or translated into English by a certified translator at your own cost.
We can make amendments and variations to this Agreement at any time, for example to update our commercial terms (including fees and charges), accommodate changes in our business, service offerings, technology, facilities or systems or to comply with legal or regulatory requirements.
If we make amendments to this Agreement, we will notify you in advance of the changes. If you disagree with a change, you can delete or cancel your online and mobile banking and continue your banking business with us through telephone banking or through an HSBC branch. If you are comfortable with the changes, you won't have to do anything.
10. Intellectual property and hyperlinks
The HSBC Group gives you the right to use online banking and the CI&IOM mobile banking app to access our services but we don't give this right to you exclusively and you can't grant any rights relating to it to anyone else.
There might be hyperlinks to third party websites in our online and mobile banking. We are not responsible for these websites or the information they contain.
"HSBC" and our Hexagon logo are registered trademarks.
Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Touch ID and Face ID are trademarks of Apple Inc. registered in the US and other countries. App Store is a Service Mark of Apple Inc.
Google Play, the Google Play logo and Android are trademarks of Google LLC.
iOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco in the US and other countries and is used by Apple Inc. under license.
11. Termination of this Agreement
How you can end this Agreement:
You can always, at any time, delete the mobile banking app from your mobile phone, free of charge. You don't need to tell us about it.
You can also simply stop using digital banking at any time you want to. However, if you want to fully de-register from online banking itself, you need to let us know, so we can make the necessary changes in our systems. Just contact us via secure message or call us.
How we can end this Agreement:
We can end this Agreement for any reason by giving you 30 days' written notice. We do not have to tell you why we are ending it and in some cases may be legally prevented from telling you.
We can end this Agreement immediately and without notice for a variety of more serious reasons, such as (but not limited to):
- you severely breach this Agreement or are in severe breach of other contracts with HSBC you might have, for example, you default on a loan or use your bank account for illicit or improper purposes
- we have reason to suspect that you are involved in fraud, money laundering or other criminal activity
- you use our online and mobile banking services for improper, illegal or business purposes
- we are obligated to terminate by legal or regulatory requirements
- if we or you become aware of irreparable or highly onerous commercial or technological reasons that make it impracticable for us to offer our digital banking services any longer
- if you permit other parties to operate your bank accounts through online or mobile banking without telling us and you fail to put appropriate legal arrangements in place to formalise such account access
- if you don't provide us promptly with information we reasonably request of you
- you no longer have a banking relationship with us
The Agreement might also end and our digital services terminate if you don't use online or mobile banking for a period longer than 12 calendar months. In such cases you might have to sign up again to these services, should you wish to use them in the future. In the meantime, we would then send you documents in paper format which you would normally have received electronically. A fee might be chargeable for this.
If our relationship ends for any reason, you must delete all digital apps relating to your HSBC online and mobile banking from your electronic devices.
Transfer
We may transfer our rights and our obligations under this Agreement to someone else. We will tell you if we do this. You can’t transfer any of your rights and obligations under this Agreement to anyone else.
12. Governing law
This Agreement and everything that happens in relation to it is governed by the laws of the jurisdiction where your accounts are held, and those courts have exclusive jurisdiction concerning any dispute or matter arising from or in connection with this Agreement. If you aren't sure where your accounts are held, please refer to the terms and conditions that apply to them.
As this Agreement is personal between you and us, any person who is not party to this Agreement has no rights in relation to it.
13. Our regulatory details
HSBC Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Our registered office is 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ.
Our Financial Services Register number is 114216. You can check these details by visiting the Financial Conduct Authority’s website www.fca.org.uk or contacting them on 0800 111 6768.
HSBC Bank plc Jersey Branch is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission for Banking, General Insurance Mediation, Fund Services and Investment Business. HSBC Bank plc Guernsey Branch is licensed by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission for Banking, Insurance Intermediary and Investment Business. In the Isle of Man, HSBC Bank plc is licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority.