that are out of touch with what ’ s actually happening on the ground. we need to be able to map our progress towards regtech 2025, and understand where our banks and other ecosystem partners are at in that journey. 7. our white paper on regtech published in november last year provided a very good starting point, supplemented by the regtech adoption index that we have just launched recently. these have shown that most banks here are already using at least some form of regtech in their operations, most commonly in preventing and detecting financial crimes. but they are using regtech much less in their risk management and regulatory compliance activities, despite the many advantages that doing so could bring for them. 8. more generally, banks currently have little engagement with the wider regtech ecosystem. we found that only 16 % of banks are currently taking part in associations and industry 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches groups and only 33 % of banks are partnering with regtech firms. so this is an area that definitely needs more work. 9. our second action is to raise regtech awareness among banks – in particular their awareness of the benefits, applications and solutions associated with regtech. 10. our regtech adoption index told us that a massive 86 % of banks consider one of the top public sector activities in this space should be to enhance the engagement between the banking sector and the regtech ecosystem. 11. and this is where today ’ s virtual event comes in! it brings together banks, regulators, regtech providers, industry associations, and representatives from other parts of the regtech ecosystem. we see this as a perfect opportunity for banks to learn more about the potential benefits of regtech for their own operations and also for their customers. 12. as part of the efforts to raise awareness, the hkma has also been publishing a series of regtech watch newsletters since november 2019. this series of articles outlines the benefits of regtech through providing high - level sample use cases for areas like cyber risk, credit risk, aml / cft, and also conduct management. 13. building on the regtech watch, we are launching a new series called “ regtech adoption practice guides ”. this provides more practical implementation guidance when you use regtech. we also plan to create a centralised regtech knowledge hub as a platform for sharing regtech information and content. we do hope that all these initiatives taken together will allow banks to become much more familiar with regtech and also help them manage the regtech

adoption process. 14. the third action we are taking is to encourage new regtech solutions. it ’ s one thing to help banks become willing and ready to embrace regtech. but they will only do this if there are fit - for - purpose regtech solutions to enhance the way that they manage their businesses. this requires commitment from regtech companies and financial institutions, and also support from the regulators and government. 15. one way to encourage new solutions and innovation is through offering incentives and organising competitions to resolve real - life pain points. in march this year the hkma launched the global regtech challenge. this competition motivated 86 global and local regtech firms to come up with possible regtech solutions for four specific pain points faced by banks in hong kong in the areas of governance, risk and compliance ; conduct and customer protection ; customer data privacy ; and also stress testing. later today we will announce the winners from this challenge, and the audience will hear more about how the innovative solutions can benefit banks in hong kong. 16. working alongside us is the financial services and the treasury bureau. this january, the bureau launched a fintech proof - of - concept subsidy scheme. this scheme provides financial incentives to banks to transform their processes through the use of innovative regtech solutions. regtech firms will also benefit as they will have more opportunities to showcase and validate their solutions and gain experience in the hong kong market. 17. in addition to offering incentives and opportunities for developing innovative use cases, i would also like to highlight several key infrastructure developments that will make launching regtech solutions easier. 18. one example of these is that the hkma is developing the cdi, the commercial data interchange, that will allow smes to grant financial institutions access to their data at different commercial establishments, of course with their consent. these will include ecommerce platforms and utilities companies. with more alternative data available to financial institutions, smes will stand a better chance of obtaining bank financing and also other customised services that will be made possible by the use of advanced data analytics. 19. i should also mention the hkma ’ s collaboration with the government on the “ iam smart ” platform, which is a one - stop personalised digital services platform available free of charge for everyone in hong kong. financial institutions can now leverage iam smart to provide 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches customers with regtech services such as remote onboarding and log - in authentication. the hkma is now exploring a corporate