China News Service, Hong Kong, October 31 (Reporter Wei Huadu) "Hong Kong Fintech Week 2022" was unveiled in Hong Kong on the 31st. The Financial Secretary of the SAR Government, Chen Maobo, said in a video speech that Hong Kong's financial technology companies have grown to more than 800, the digital transformation of the financial services industry is the top priority, and Hong Kong is currently strengthening the construction of financial infrastructure.

  In his speech, Chen Maobo said that Hong Kong's open market, sound legal system, perfect infrastructure and information flow have given birth to many financial technology companies.

Five years ago, there were less than 180 fintech companies in Hong Kong, but now there are more than 800, many of which are initiated by overseas talents.

In order to continue to strengthen the construction of financial infrastructure, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) officially launched the "Business Data Connect" last week, allowing enterprises to share data with banks through a central platform to facilitate access to financing services for SMEs; Companies offer subsidies that allow them to work with financial institutions to develop new products, while also working with mainland authorities to help companies launch cross-border programs and businesses.

  He added that these cross-border plans include the establishment of an online system to connect Hong Kong fintech companies, users, partners and investors in the mainland, Southeast Asia and other regional markets, which are expected to be launched by the end of this year.

In addition, the HKMA is preparing to issue a cross-border central bank digital currency (CBDC) to cooperate with other regional central banks to speed up cross-border payments.

  He said that the SAR government issued a policy statement on the development of virtual assets in Hong Kong that morning, covering vision, supervision and experimental plans, and hoped to explore the commitment and determination of financial innovation with the global virtual asset industry.

To this end, the SAR government has submitted a bill to propose the introduction of a statutory licensing system for service providers, and is planning to launch the 2022 Hong Kong Fintech Week to issue non-fungible tokens (NFTs), green bond tokenization and digital Hong Kong dollar and other experimental projects.

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