Following are the remarks made by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (November 8):

Reporter: Hi, English questions from RTHK. So how is the Government adapting its regulatory framework in response to the evolving cryptocurrency landscape? My second question is, you mentioned that there were significant changes in the fintech ecosystem over the past few years. What specific trends are you seeing that could shape the future of financial technology? Thank you. 

Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury: In fact, we have been adopting a very consistent approach in terms of how we regulate the digital assets sector, which is based on the principle of similar business, similar risk, and similar regulation. Throughout the various legislations that we have enacted, including the regulation of the digital asset exchanges, the Stablecoins, and also the coming regulation of custodians and digital asset trading, the same principle will apply. 

     In response to your second question about the changes that we observed, I think, first of all, what we see is that there have been changes in terms of how our institutions here in Hong Kong are approaching fintech. For example, if you look at the adoption of AI among our financial institutions, three years ago, the number was around a quarter of the serving institutions. But now the number almost goes to around three quarters. And apart from the wider adoption of technology, another angle to look at is in terms of the extent to which it has been adopted. Right now, you see more focused and also at the same time more embedded implementation of some of the fintech initiatives.

     Like blockchain, there have been a lot of discussions, a lot of adoptions in terms of how some tokenised products can be more widely used, for example, tokenised deposits and also tokenised money market funds. In such a way that there could be more opportunities given to companies to maximise their returns on their reserves and also on their capital. So all in all, I would say what you observed is an increase in the proportion of companies adopting fintech, at the same time is the extent to which they apply fintech in various elements of their work. 

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)

Ends/Saturday, November 8, 2025
Issued at HKT 10:53

NNNN