, the architecture of cdi is more complex. multiple parties are involved — banks, data providers, commercial entities, government departments, you name it. and for another, we need to factor in various considerations to keep up with the latest international standards, including measures to uphold and protect data privacy. therefore, enhancing our financial data infrastructure must be a concerted effort by the banking and tech industry as a whole. a team effort will ultimately lead to public goods that deliver value, benefit all the parties, and at the same time are commercially viable. 30. by improving our data infrastructure, we are empowering the industry and encouraging creativity for developing innovative financial products and solutions, in turn building up the overall appetite for fintech solutions. expanding the fintech - savvy workforce 31. the three strategies i just mentioned will, hopefully, generate demand in the industry for fintech solutions. however, from what we learnt from the industry, the supply of fintech talent remains a pressing issue. therefore, our fourth strategy is that we want to foster a fintechsavvy workforce and nurture all - round fintech talent, including students and practitioners. 32. we don ’ t need reminding of how hong kong boasts an extremely strong talent pool – be it in law, finance, accountancy, or other professions. we are a city that thrives on our people ’ s high agility and efficiency. we pride ourselves on keeping up with international standards as well as customer and market requirements. 33. with fintech being a relatively new area, it is understandable that we currently face an acute fintech talent shortage. hong kong is in need of grooming all - round fintech talent and expertise. we need professionals who can develop fintech solutions, instead of merely being users of it. given the intellect and work ethic of our students and professionals, i am confident that this is an objective we can achieve without difficulty. 34. as mentioned, fintech is, comparatively speaking, a nascent industry. that is why insights about the industry, such as the kinds of jobs available, the skillsets required, and career path, remains largely a mystery to outsiders, let alone fresh graduates and new joiners. we want to help these new comers gain industry knowledge and practical industry experience. of course, we have not forgotten about existing banking practitioners. it is equally important, if not more, to upskill practitioners and deepen their fintech knowledge. 35. in order to do

this, we have joined hands with the industry and local universities to launch the industry project masters network ( ipmn ) scheme. starting from september this year, months - long internship opportunities will be provided to some master students for them to gain hands - on experience in areas including ai and federated learning. by the end of this year, we will also launch a new fintech module for the enhanced competency framework to raise the professional competencies of existing banking practitioners. 36. a collective effort with the banking industry as well as our strategic partners will enable us to nurture home - grown fintech talent and maintain our competitive edge as an international finance centre. nurturing ecosystem with funding and policies 37. we understand that good ideas alone would not come to fruition without either one of the following : funding support and a conducive environment that allows mistakes and failures. in fact, numerous success stories in history prove that trial and error is necessary for innovation. to encourage banks to try more, in turn stimulating innovation in the banking industry, we are going to channel our focus on two areas : funding and policies. 38. today, i am excited to announce that the hkma is doing preparation work to further upgrade 4 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches our fintech supervisory sandbox. to begin with, we are exploring the possibility of providing funding support to qualified fintech projects. our discussion with the innovation and technology commission has just started, and i hope to share more details with you in due course. we hope the enhanced sandbox could speed up the launch of innovative financial products and solutions, ultimately reducing their time to market and facilitate banks in making commercial gains while serving the public. 39. to ensure that no banks, regardless of their size, will be left behind in the cascading wave of innovation, the hkma will join forces with our strategic partners, including the hong kong science and technology parks ( hkstp ) and cyberport, to introduce utilities and necessary support to banks to speed up their technology adoption. 40. through supportive measures, we want to foster an encouraging environment, in which all stakeholders, be they banks, non - banks, or the academia, can trust and flourish. closing 41. as a takeaway, when you think about the fintech 2025 strategy, i want you to envision a virtuous cycle. 42. as all banks adopt fintech to capture new opportunities in the digital economy, strong demands will be created for fintech