‘All Banks Go Fintech’: Hong Kong Unveils ‘Fintech 2025’ Strategy

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) plans to guide local banks towards full adoption of fintech technologies, a new strategy reveals. The region’s central banking institution also stressed that it’s going to “walk the talk” by digitalizing its own supervision of financial institutions.

Hong Kong Central Bank to Support Fintech Development

Hong Kong’s monetary policy regulator has presented its new strategy to stimulate the fintech development of China’s special administrative region. With the strategy, HKMA aims for a comprehensive adoption of new financial technologies in the next four years. The central bank also wants to “promote the provision of fair and efficient financial services for the benefit of Hong Kong citizens and the economy.”

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Hong Kong Association of Banks, HKMA’s chief executive Eddie Yue outlined five focus areas of “Fintech 2025.” The regulator wants to encourage all banks to go fintech, future-proof Hong Kong for CBDCs, create next-gen data infrastructure, expand the fintech-savvy workforce, and nurture the ecosystem with funding and policies.

One of the key directions in which the monetary authority intends to intensify its efforts is the full digitalization of bank operations. Expanding on the accomplishments of its Smart Banking Era Strategy announced in 2017, the HKMA will continue to “promote the all-round adoption of fintech by Hong Kong banks.” The regulator is going to identify specific fintech areas where the sector is lagging behind and needs support. That applies to its own regulatory framework as well:

The HKMA will issue further supervisory guidance to facilitate the uptake of novel technologies and continue to “walk the talk” by digitalising its supervision of banks through the use of advanced technologies.