eddie yue : keynote speech - hong kong fintech week 2023 keynote speech by mr eddie yue, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the hong kong fintech week 2023, hong kong, 2 november 2023. * * * good morning everyone. welcome to the 8th hong kong fintech week. very pleased to see you all back here in person after my avatar has travelled in three continents and two oceans in the metaverse while having a real good virtual vacation. this year's theme is " fintech redefined ". back in around 2016, when the word " fintech " was first coined and the hkma's fintech facilitation office was set up, " fintech " used to be a catch - all term, so much so that even many of us in the field grew confused. over time, fintech has evolved from a buzz word into an essential part of our everyday lives, and so has its lexicon. the industry and its branches have become more specialised and less contrived. the different functions have become sufficiently distinct from each other to warrant their own terms, teams, departments, and even industries. as a result, we started to see the rise of more defined terms such as wealthtech, insurtech, greentech, legaltech and many more. it was also around this time that the hkma set up more specialised teams, such as the regtech and suptech teams, to tackle more specific issues in greater depth. fast forward to today. against the backdrop of rapid advancements in technology, such as ai and blockchain, and the drastic changes in the macro environment, including postpandemic challenges, weakening global growth, and an uncertain trajectory of inflation, it makes sense to revisit the term " fintech " to see if we need to calibrate or update its definition and whether certain aspects need to be reinforced. the hkma has been on the fintech journey for over seven years. today, i'd like to take this opportunity to share what we have learned from our experience. i hope this will contribute to our collective understanding. first, for our fintech projects to bear fruit, we cannot stress enough the importance of long term commitment : the need to devote years of hard work and sustained investment. let me explain. for the parents in the audience here, when it comes to paying school fees for your children, when was the last time you used a cheque

protection measures to ensure that the intermediaries, including the banks, have a clear understanding of their responsibilities when distributing and offering digital asset products and services. our aim is to make sure that investors understand the relevant risks and are prepared to bear them. cross - border collaboration is growing increasingly important as cross - border activities become more frequent. in my view, we have a better chance to solve existing pain points when central banks join forces. as i mentioned just now, i'll illustrate this point with a preview of an upcoming feature of the fps. the hkma has been collaborating closely with the bank of thailand to link up our fps with their equivalent system, promptpay. i am pleased to announce that on 4 december, the two authorities will jointly launch a new service called " fps x promptpay qr payment. " in future, when tourists from hong kong visit thailand, they will be able to scan and pay conveniently at over 8 million promptpay merchants. this will do away with the hassle of exchanging hong kong dollars for thai baht in advance because the exchange conversion will take place during the transaction. in the other direction, hong kong fps merchants which accept qr payments will also benefit by being able to receive promptpay payments from thai tourists. for the past few minutes, i have discussed the evolution of fintech definitions and shared some of the things the hkma has learned from our experiences. before i conclude, i'd like to take a moment to share my thoughts on the shape of things to come in the next five years or so. i don't have a crystal ball, but there are three areas in which i envisage very fast developments. first, i believe the cross - border payments landscape will undergo significant improvement, both at the wholesale and retail levels, making payments considerably faster and cheaper. zooming into the asean region, on the wholesale level, i expect the mbridge platform, co - founded by the hkma, to be operational and settling a good volume of international trades in near real - time. on the retail level, the private sector will continue to build novel cross - border payment solutions, and more central banks will establish bilateral connections between their respective instant payment systems ( ipss ). in addition, with the potential launch of project nexus, which connects different 3 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches ipss, cross - border payments will become more convenient and affordable for individuals and businesses alike.