; and 30 others, including chatbots powered by artificial intelligence, and enhanced financial services leveraging distributed ledger technologies and social media platform integration. - in addition, we already had the successful launch of remote onboarding services in hong kong, and more than 10 banks are preparing to launch similar services. also, around 10 banks plan to launch online personal lending services that leverage machine learning technologies and data analytics. banks are now able to reach out and deliver more financial services with good user experience to a wider spectrum of customers via mobile phones and other online channels. 5. secondly, if we take a closer look at the tech community ’ s involvement, it is not difficult to see that many of the initiatives i just mentioned are the result of collaboration between the banking industry and the tech community. since the upgrade of our supervisory sandbox last november, 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches tech firms have directly accessed the sandbox ’ s chatroom in more than 110 cases to seek the hkma ’ s early regulatory feedback on their projects and ideas. this means they are better prepared to collaborate with banks to launch fintech products and services. these uses of the chatroom are on top of around 50 cases used by banks. the rollout of the open api framework, and the phase one implementation roadmaps submitted by banks to the hkma, show there will be an even higher level of integration and collaboration between the banking industry and the tech community. 6. thirdly, more than 70 firms, including local and overseas technology and financial firms, have expressed interest in establishing virtual banks in hong kong. as of 31 august, we have received about 30 applications to operate a virtual bank. some of those applications are already “ substantially complete ”, so we would include them in the first batch of applications for processing. we expect to start granting licences to virtual banks around the end of this year or early next year. i believe establishment of virtual banks will provide further traction to the growth of the smart banking ecosystem in hong kong. 7. fourthly, the smart banking ecosystem is not complete without support from the general public and customers. i am glad to see that a large number of bank customers have signed up with the faster payment system ( fps ) since the launch of customer registration on 17 september for registration. growing significance of regtech in the smart banking era 8. as we watch the positive development of the smart banking ecosystem, it is also important that we maintain momentum. this year, the conference ’

5. the aof is a cross - sectoral collaboration to achieve the goal of enhancing the competitiveness of hong kong ’ s financial industry. may i take this opportunity to thank our fellow regulators for their support in the setting up of the academy and in providing guidance on its future work through the board of directors, which includes representatives from the insurance authority, the securities and futures commission, the mandatory provident fund schemes authority alongside the hong kong monetary authority. 6. ladies and gentlemen, today the aof will also confer fellowship upon 10 distinguished leaders in recognition of their outstanding achievements and contributions to hong kong in the field of finance. may i take this opportunity to congratulate the fellows and to express our deep appreciation of their remarkable achievements and contributions to hong kong over the years. 7. before i conclude, let me express our sincere gratitude to the members of the experts group, preparatory committee, exchange fund advisory committee and the financial secretary, who is also the honorary president of the academy, for their support and 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches contributions that have made it possible for us to launch the aof within a very short period of time. lastly, the managing director of the international monetary fund, ms christine lagarde, has asked me to convey her apologies for not being able to officiate at today ’ s ceremony as planned. although not being able to join the occasion in person, she will deliver a video message to us later on. once again, i thank all of you for joining this ceremony today. thank you for your kind attention. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches