Under the cooperation agreement, signed Wednesday in London, the HKMA and the the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are to “foster collaboration between the two regulatory authorities in promoting financial innovation”.
The collaboration will be on a number of initiatives. These will include referrals of fintech firms, joint innovation projects, information exchange and experience sharing to facilitate financial innovation in both regions.
Fintech facilitation
For Hong Kong, the agreement is a key initiative of the Fintech Facilitation Office (FFO) of the HKMA. It presents significant opportunities for financial and fintech companies to enhance their services and extend their global footprint.
For the UK, it represents the fifth co-operation agreement that the FCA has signed with international authorities after Australia, Singapore, South Korea, and China. The regulator has an overarching statutory objective as a regulator to make financial services markets work well, and promoting competition through innovation forms a significant part of this.
The agreement with the HKMA will also reduce the barriers for authorised firms looking to grow to scale overseas and assist non-UK innovators interested in entering the market the FCA oversees.
Create significant synergy
Shu-Pui Li, executive director, financial infrastructure, of the HKMA, said: “Both Hong Kong and the UK are well positioned as global financial centres and premier locations for financial innovation.
“Many fintech firms and financial institutions in the two markets have already gained a solid local footing. Collaboration between the HKMA and the FCA will create significant synergy for the two markets by enabling fintech firms and financial institutions to extend their global reach and learn from their foreign counterparts. It will also help to enhance services delivered by financial institutions.”
Christopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA, said: “Alongside promoting innovation in UK businesses, we also want to see the best firms from around the world coming to the UK. Both consumers and the wider UK economy benefit from this transfer of ideas and innovation.
“The agreement signed today with the HKMA is a good example of this type of international co-operation and we look forward to working to promote innovation and reduce barriers to entry for firms both here in the UK and in Hong Kong.”
