Hong Kong Monetary Authority: will continue to collaborate with relevant Mainland departments to optimize "cross-border credit information exchange" and validation platform

On October 10th, Arthur YUEN, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, delivered a welcoming speech at the Cross-border Credit Information and Data Verification Seminar. He mentioned that based on the success of previous pilot programs, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the People's Bank of China have decided to "normalize" the cross-border credit information exchange business pilot program, supporting the industry to commercialize the current pilot program results and launch market-oriented cross-border credit information solutions. At the same time, in order to meet market demand and feedback, as mentioned in the Chief Executive's recent policy address, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will continue to collaborate with relevant mainland government departments to optimize the "cross-border credit information exchange" and verification platform, facilitating Hong Kong banks to approve loans for mainland residents and enterprises in Hong Kong. Arthur YUEN stated that cross-border credit data sharing has become an important issue in the international financial industry. In response to industry needs, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has been cooperating with the People's Bank of China to promote cross-border credit cooperation. Since the Hong Kong Monetary Authority initiated the "cross-border credit information exchange" business pilot program last year, there have been successful cases of credit information agencies transferring data directly to another credit information agency. Considering that some data is sensitive, since April of this year, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has also integrated the application of the "Greater Bay Area Cross-border Data Verification Platform" which is already online, optimizing the pilot arrangement by including the verification platform process step, allowing this data to be authorized by mainland enterprises and individual customers to obtain certification in Hong Kong. Arthur YUEN mentioned that the verification platform uses blockchain technology and data codes (hash values) for document verification, allowing banks to quickly and securely verify data carried by users. Since the launch of the verification platform in May 2024, it has served over 10 banks and credit information agencies, supporting banks in account opening, remittances, and lending business. In April, the verification platform successfully connected with the commercial data interchange (CDI), providing CDI member institutions with a more convenient access method. Arthur YUEN stated that the technical design of the verification platform is highly open and can support data sources and users from different industries and fields, and can launch more types of data according to the needs of individual application scenarios. Currently, the data covered by the verification platform is quite extensive. Arthur YUEN stated that the pilot program has made significant progress to date, successfully transmitting different types of enterprise and individual data in different scenarios. In terms of information flowing south to Hong Kong, Hong Kong banks have successfully obtained highly recognized credit reports from the People's Bank of China, assisting in approving loans amounting to over 260 million Hong Kong dollars, including corporate loans, personal loans, mortgages, and other practical scenarios.