ENG-2018 — Page 113

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Financial and Monetary Affairs

companies' disclosure of environmental information with an emphasis on climate-related risks. and opportunities, formulating policies obliging asset managers to disclose how and to what extent they consider environmental and climate change risks in the investment and risk analysis process, and facilitating the development of green financial products.

The new Government Green Bond Programme received LegCo's authorisation in November. The programme aims to encourage more issuers to arrange financing for their green projects through the city's capital markets and help grow the local green investor base.

Financial Technologies

With the joint effort of the government, financial regulators and industry players, the local financial technology (fintech) ecology is increasingly vibrant. Some 550 fintech companies and start-ups are operating in Hong Kong. World-renowned innovation laboratories and accelerator programmes, such as Accenture Fintech Innovation Lab and Deloitte Asia Pacific Blockchain Lab, have established their presence in Hong Kong.

InvestHK organised the third Hong Kong Fintech Week in November, attracting some 8,000 attendees from over 50 countries and regions. This was the first cross-boundary fintech event incorporating a Shenzhen Day, bringing fintech communities from overseas, Hong Kong and the Mainland to Shenzhen for business exchanges.

HKMA Fintech Initiatives

To strengthen Hong Kong's position as a fintech hub in Asia, the HKMA implements the seven initiatives announced in 2017 and aimed at facilitating the development and use of fintech in the banking and payment industries. Considerable progress was made in implementing these initiatives and transforming the local financial ecosystem.

Apart from putting the FPS into operation, the HKMA facilitated the launch of eTradeConnect, a blockchain-based trade finance platform, by a consortium of banks in Hong Kong. The platform aims to reduce error and risk of fraud by digitising paper-based documents and automating the trade finance process. The HKMA also published a framework on the Open Application Programming Interface (API) to help the banking sector adopt and implement Open API functions.

To enlarge the fintech talent pool, the HKMA rolled out Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme 2.0 jointly with strategic partners, namely the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, Cyberport Hong Kong and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks. Agreements were signed with authorities from Abu Dhabi, Brazil, Poland and Switzerland to enhance fintech collaboration. The HKMA also announced initiating a Global Financial Innovation Network in collaboration with 11 other financial regulators and related organisations to provide an efficient way for innovative firms to interact with regulators and for financial services regulators to cooperate on innovation topics.

On the supervisory front, usage of the Fintech Supervisory Sandbox, including the Fintech Supervisory Chatroom, continued to increase steadily. By the end of 2018, the HKMA had

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