Last Friday (29 September 2017), Hong Kong financial regulators announced new initiatives aimed at fintech firms, including several new regulatory sandboxes:
- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced plans to launch Fintech Supervisory Sandbox 2.0, an enhanced sandbox that follows on the heels of its Fintech Supervisory Sandbox launched a year ago (further details of which are set out in our e-bulletin here);
- The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced the launch of a Fintech Regulatory Sandbox and issued further clarification on the meaning of “relevant experience” for responsible officers at fintech firms (see the SFC’s press release here); and
- The Insurance Authority announced two pilot initiatives - the Insurtech Sandbox and Fast Track.
The regulatory sandboxes will be linked up across the regulators via a common interface so as to provide a single point of entry for pilot trials of cross-sector fintech products and services. These developments follow the trend of regulators around the world looking to increase the competitiveness of their financial services market by encouraging innovation through financial technologies.
Our recent bulletin sets out the above initiatives in more detail. if you would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Hong Kong team (the contact details of which are set out in the bulletin), or your usual Herbert Smith Freehills contact.
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