HKMA Sets Out Fintech Strategy for Coming Years
HKMA unveiled its new strategy—“Fintech 2025”—for driving fintech development in Hong Kong. The HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue outlined the new fintech strategy, which aims to encourage the financial sector to adopt technology comprehensively by 2025 as well as to promote the provision of fair and efficient financial services for the benefit of Hong Kong citizens and the economy. Additional details of the initiatives under the strategy will be announced by HKMA in due course.
The five focus areas put forward in the strategy are:
All banks going fintech. HKMA will continue to promote the all-round adoption of fintech by banks in Hong Kong and encourage them to fully digitalize their operations, from front-end to back-end. To take this forward, HKMA will roll out a Tech Baseline Assessment to take stock of banks’ current and planned adoption of fintech in the coming years and to identify fintech business areas or specific technology types that may be underdeveloped and would benefit from HKMA support. HKMA will issue further supervisory guidance to facilitate the uptake of novel technologies and continue to “walk the talk” by digitalizing supervision of banks through the use of advanced technologies.
Future-proofing Hong Kong for central bank digital currencies. HKMA will strengthen its research work to increase Hong Kong’s readiness in issuing central bank digital currencies at both wholesale and retail levels.
Creating the next-generation data infrastructure. HKMA will take the lead in enhancing the existing data infrastructure and building new one, including commercial data interchange, digital corporate identity, and distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based credit data sharing platform, to facilitate consent-based data sharing.
Expanding the fintech-savvy workforce. HKMA aims to collaborate with various strategic partners to groom all-round fintech talent, both students and practitioners, through various initiatives, including developing fintech-specific training programs and qualifications as well as promoting joint projects between the industry and the academia.
Nurturing the ecosystem with funding and policies. A new Fintech Cross-Agency Co-ordination Group will be established by HKMA and various industry key players to formulate supportive policies for the Hong Kong fintech ecosystem. In addition, HKMA will continue the preparatory work for the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio, which seeks to reinforce Hong Kong’s status as a financial, commercial and innovation center. It will also enhance its Fintech Supervisory Sandbox and is exploring with the Innovation and Technology Commission the possibility of providing funding support to qualified fintech projects.
Keywords: Asia Pacific, Hong Kong, Banking, Fintech, CBDC, Suptech, Regtech, Strategic Priorities, DLT, HKMA
Related Articles
FINMA Approves Merger of Credit Suisse and UBS
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has approved the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS.
BOE Sets Out Its Thinking on Regulatory Capital and Climate Risks
The Bank of England (BOE) published a working paper that aims to understand the climate-related disclosures of UK financial institutions.
OSFI Finalizes on Climate Risk Guideline, Issues Other Updates
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is seeking comments, until May 31, 2023, on the draft guideline on culture and behavior risk, with final guideline expected by the end of 2023.
APRA Assesses Macro-Prudential Policy Settings, Issues Other Updates
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) published an information paper that assesses its macro-prudential policy settings aimed at promoting stability at a systemic level.
BIS Paper Examines Impact of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Lending
BIS issued a paper that investigates the effect of the greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions of firms on bank loans using bank–firm matched data of Japanese listed firms from 2006 to 2018.
HMT Mulls Alignment of Ring-Fencing and Resolution Regimes for Banks
The HM Treasury (HMT) is seeking evidence, until May 07, 2023, on practicalities of aligning the ring-fencing and the banking resolution regimes for banks.
MFSA Sets Out Supervisory Priorities, Issues Reporting Updates
The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) outlined its supervisory priorities for 2023
German Regulators Issue Multiple Reporting Updates for Banks
Deutsche Bundesbank published the nationally deactivated validation rules for the German Commercial Code (HGB) users on the taxonomy 3.2, which became valid from December 31, 2022
BCBS Report Examines Impact of Basel III Framework for Banks
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) published results of the Basel III monitoring exercise based on the June 30, 2022 data.
PRA Consults on Prudential Rules for "Simpler-Regime" Firms
Among the recent regulatory updates from UK authorities, a key development is the first-phase consultation, from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), on simplifications to the prudential framework that would apply to the simpler-regime firms.