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Financial and Monetary Affairs
phase 1, covering information of over 1,000 products and services. Under phase 2, the banks opened up over 300 APIs in October to support applications for banking products and services.
On trade finance, a proof-of-concept study on connecting eTradeConnect1 and we.trade's was completed in the first quarter of the year. In November, an MoU was signed between the subsidiaries of Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited and the Institute of Digital Currency of the PBOC to conduct a proof-of-concept study about connecting eTradeConnect and the PBOC Trade Finance Platform to provide firms in both places with more convenient trade finance services.
The HKMA and the Bank of Thailand embarked on a joint research project named Project Inthanon-Lion Rock to study the application of central bank digital currency to cross-border payments, with a view to facilitating HKD-THB payment-versus-payment among banks in Hong Kong and Thailand.
On artificial intelligence, the HKMA published a report in December on applying such technology in the banking industry.
The HKMA runs Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme 2.0 in collaboration with strategic partners to nurture young talent at various stages of their career development. Over 220 students benefited from the programmes in 2019.
In terms of cross-boundary collaboration, the HKMA seeks to strengthen fintech collaboration with Shenzhen. It sponsored for the second time the Shenzhen Summer Internship Programme, which enabled 50 Hong Kong students to work in renowned firms in Shenzhen for six weeks to experience the fintech ecosystem there. The HKMA also co-organised with the Shenzhen Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Fintech Award for the third consecutive year.
In January, the HKMA and an international group of 28 financial regulators and related organisations established the Global Financial Innovation Network', which seeks to create a framework for collaboration among financial services regulators on innovation-related topics.
In November, under the HKMA's facilitation, the first Innovation Hub Centre of the Bank for International Settlements began operation in Hong Kong. The HKMA will contribute to the centre's research by sharing local and regional experience in fintech development and facilitating its connections with the private sector, academia, other regulators, and government organisations.
On the supervisory front, the Fintech Supervisory Sandbox was hosting the pilot trials of 103 fintech initiatives by end-2019, compared with 42 at end-2018. The HKMA received 406
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eTradeConnect is a blockchain-based trade finance platform launched under the HKMA's facilitation and fully funded by a consortium of 12 major banks in Hong Kong.
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we.trade is a European blockchain-based trade finance platform.
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By the end of 2019, the network consisted of 50 organisations.
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