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Financial and Monetary Affairs
The HKMA runs the Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme 2.0 in collaboration with strategic. partners to nurture young talent at various stages of their career development. In 2020, 250 students benefited from the programmes.
In terms of cross-boundary collaboration, the HKMA, together with other members of the Global Financial Innovation Network13, opened applications for the Cross-Border Testing pilot for firms to trial and scale new technologies, products or business models in multiple jurisdictions.
On the supervisory front, pilot trials of 90 fintech initiatives were allowed in the Fintech Supervisory Sandbox in 2020, bringing the cumulative total number of these pilot trials to 193. As at 31 December, the HKMA had also received 533 requests to access the Fintech Supervisory Chatroom since its launch in 2017.
In 2020, all eight virtual banks licensed in 2019 officially launched their services to the public.
SFC Fintech Initiatives
The SFC, through its Fintech Contact Point, handles enquiries about operating fintech. businesses, such as robo-advising, equity crowdfunding platforms and the application of blockchain in delivering financial services and products. The SFC Regulatory Sandbox provides a confined environment for qualified firms to use fintech for regulated activities under the SFO before using it on a wider scale.
The SFC maintains close contact with overseas regulators to keep up with fintech trends and market intelligence. Fintech cooperation agreements are in place with counterparts in Abu Dhabi, Australia, Dubai, Israel, Malaysia, Switzerland and the UK. The SFC also participates in fintech-related policy discussions as a member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions.
IA Fintech Initiatives
The IA facilitates development in insurance technology (insurtech) through initiatives including: the Insurtech Sandbox, which allows authorised insurers to conduct a pilot run of innovative insurtech applications to be applied in their business operations; the Insurtech Facilitation Team, which communicates with businesses that develop and apply insurtech in Hong Kong; and the Fast-Track application scheme, which authorises applicants owning and operating solely digital distribution channels. Four virtual insurers were licensed under the Fast Track between December 2018 and May 2020, two offering life insurance and the other two offering non-life insurance.
Other Measures to Enhance Hong Kong's Competitiveness as an International Financial Centre
The government drives, facilitates and coordinates initiatives to ensure the overarching regulatory framework will protect investors and promote market development in the face of global needs and local circumstances.
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By the end of 2020, the network consisted of over 60 organisations, including the SFC and the IA.
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