The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s welfare recipients retiring in Guangdong and Fujian provinces will be allowed to receive cash assistance directly in their Chinese mainland bank accounts starting from July.

HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced the new measure in a social media post on Wednesday, the last day of his visit to Fujian province.

Lee had a tea gathering with elderly people from the SAR living in the province to learn about their retirement lives.

In his 2025 Policy Address, the CE said the government would facilitate Hong Kong elderly people retiring in Guangdong and Fujian provinces by providing the option to receive government assistance directly into their accounts with designated mainland banks.

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Known as the “Guangdong Scheme” and the “Fujian Scheme”, the measure is a part of the existing Social Security Allowance Scheme, comprising old age living allowance and old age allowance to provide a monthly allowance for eligible Hong Kong residents who choose to reside in either province.

Currently, applicants receive the allowance through their bank accounts in the HKSAR and need to make arrangements with the bank to remit the payments.

The CE told the elderly participants that the optimized arrangement will be launched next month and expected to further facilitate seniors in receiving their allowances and make their retirement lives more secure.

“Some of the seniors who took part in today's gathering are beneficiaries of the ‘Fujian Scheme’. I am pleased to hear that the elderly people said the monthly cash allowances provided by the government have improved the quality of their retirement lives, and everyone is living happily in Fujian,” he wrote in the social media post.