Request for detailed information of opening banking API

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority acknowledges receipt of your email and
will handle as soon as possible.
To ensure service quality, all our telephone conversations may be recorded,
irrespective of whether you dial in or we call you back. We will not
disclose personal information about you to anyone outside the Hong Kong
Monetary Authority unless required or permitted to do so by law.

本局已收到你的電郵並會盡快處理。
為確保我們的服務質素，所有你跟本局職員之間的電話談話內容，無論是你的來電或
是我們的回覆電話，都可能會被錄音。除非是法律允許，否則我們不會向外界透露你
的個人資料。

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your emails dated 1 October 2021. Please note that your
enquiry is being handled. According to paragraph 1.16 of the "Code on
Access to Information", we will inform you the progress on or before 21
October 2021.

Best regards,

Florence Lui
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Monetary Authority

----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[email address]>
01/10/2021 03:45 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information
of opening API (2)

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hongkong Baptist University. Following the last
email, we’ve also learned that the fintech supervisory sandbox is a tool
to help tech firms or banks to launch new initiatives and it has been used
in the trial of API. Therefore, we would also like to ask for some more
information related to the Fintech supervisory sandbox.

1. We’ve learned that there are a number of 900 registrations by the TSPs
from “The next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([1]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...).
There are pilot trials of 220 fintech initiatives that have been approved
in the FSS (shown in HKMA website:
[2]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...).
The large number may be owing to the successful promotion.

Therefore, we’d like to learn the ways of promoting API and FSS to TSPs by
HKMA or through what channels could the companies know API and FSS besides
getting information from the official website.

2. We have learned from the Sandbox Website:
([3]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...)
and find that In HKMA's report on sandboxes, the only available info is
that there are 15 project design APIs that have used the sandbox, this
question is designed for exploring project-specific information.

Therefore, we’d like to get more specific information about these 15
projects to follow up on the development of these projects regarding:

a. Specific project intro (the area involved in)

b. Related APIs

c. No.of Banks that are involved

d. No. of third party companies that are involved

e. Year (beginning and maturing - endgame)

f. The current status(applied in the market or not?)

3. Comparing the policy of FCA in the UK
([4]https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...)
and the operating principles of HKMA
([5]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)
we find that there is no specific acquirement about the innovation.

We’d like to know whether there are any innovation requirements the
company that want to use sandbox in HK need to meet (e.g. the number of
years of development that this project has to meet in the existing
industry, the number of companies in the industry), and the degree of
differentiation between other companies in the existing industry (higher
technical achievements...)

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

Hong Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[email address]

Is [Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[6]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[7]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[FOI #796 email]>
01/10/2021 03:38 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information
of opening banking API

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hong Kong Baptist University and now focusing
on a project related to opening banking in the development of the smart
city based on the current status of opening banking Application
Programming Interface (API). Opening banking is now a global development
emphasis and has played a significant role in building a smart city in
recent years. As an international financial center, Hong Kong needs to be
forward-looking in the plan and development in opening banking API.

Concerning the implementation and related policies, we are writing
to request further information to work on our project of evaluating,
improving, and promoting open banking in Hong Kong:

1. Stage 3 and 4 are said to be set out within 12 months in July of 2018.
However, the timeline has been changed and the progress is slower than the
previous plan.

We’d like to know the updated specific start and finish times of each
stage so that we could better know the progress of opening the API.

(The original plan: (publication on 18 July 2018)
[8]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
）

Updated Timeline:
[9]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)

2. Hong Kong’s banking industry successfully launched Phases I and II of
banking Open API in January 2019 and October 2019 respectively. Phases III
and IV will be implemented later.

We’d like to kindly ask for a detailed evaluation report of Hong Kong
Phases I and II development,(if available )to evaluate and analyze the
performance of Phases I and II, making a contrast with opening API
development with other countries, thus better helping with III and IV
development. If the report is not available please let us know how the
Authority plans to assess the effectiveness and impact of the project.

3. We have found “ The Next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([10]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...),
which

illustrates the development of the project on HKMA’s official website. As
it mentions, there were over 900 registrations by TSPs wishing to access
Phase I and II Open APIs as of Q3 2020, representing a growth of 240% from
Q1 2019. However, according to the data of TSPs in HKSTP
([11]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...), there are 33
companies that have already provided API services.

We’d like to ask how many TSPs have confirmed that they will participate
in the opening API each year after registration and why there is a big gap
between the number of registrations and true participation by TSPs.

4. We've learned that there are 24 banks and 33 third-party service
providers ([12]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...). However, we
cannot get more detailed data about the API. We’d like to learn further
about the promotion situation among the general public.

Could you please offer us information about:

The detailed customer transaction scale of the opening API in Hong Kong

Detailed registration and practice rate of customer transactions on TSPs

Total transactions of customers of TSPs

5. HKMA is the main institution of implementing the Opening API in Hong
Kong. In order to better understand the promotional efforts of HKMA for
open banking,

we’d like to know:

What instructions or guidelines does HKMA provide for the bank to
implement open banking?

What support does HKMA provide for the bank to implement open banking?

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

HONG Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #796 email]

Is [Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[13]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[14]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
2. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
3. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...
4. https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...
5. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
6. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
7. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
8. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
9. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
10. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
11. https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...
12. https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...
13. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
14. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your emails dated 1 October 2021. Please note that your
enquiry is being handled. According to paragraph 1.16 of the "Code on
Access to Information", we will inform you the progress on or before 21
October 2021.

Best regards,

Florence Lui
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Monetary Authority

----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[email address]>
01/10/2021 03:45 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information
of opening API (2)

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hongkong Baptist University. Following the last
email, we’ve also learned that the fintech supervisory sandbox is a tool
to help tech firms or banks to launch new initiatives and it has been used
in the trial of API. Therefore, we would also like to ask for some more
information related to the Fintech supervisory sandbox.

1. We’ve learned that there are a number of 900 registrations by the TSPs
from “The next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([1]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...).
There are pilot trials of 220 fintech initiatives that have been approved
in the FSS (shown in HKMA website:
[2]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...).
The large number may be owing to the successful promotion.

Therefore, we’d like to learn the ways of promoting API and FSS to TSPs by
HKMA or through what channels could the companies know API and FSS besides
getting information from the official website.

2. We have learned from the Sandbox Website:
([3]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...)
and find that In HKMA's report on sandboxes, the only available info is
that there are 15 project design APIs that have used the sandbox, this
question is designed for exploring project-specific information.

Therefore, we’d like to get more specific information about these 15
projects to follow up on the development of these projects regarding:

a. Specific project intro (the area involved in)

b. Related APIs

c. No.of Banks that are involved

d. No. of third party companies that are involved

e. Year (beginning and maturing - endgame)

f. The current status(applied in the market or not?)

3. Comparing the policy of FCA in the UK
([4]https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...)
and the operating principles of HKMA
([5]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)
we find that there is no specific acquirement about the innovation.

We’d like to know whether there are any innovation requirements the
company that want to use sandbox in HK need to meet (e.g. the number of
years of development that this project has to meet in the existing
industry, the number of companies in the industry), and the degree of
differentiation between other companies in the existing industry (higher
technical achievements...)

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

Hong Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[email address]

Is [Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[6]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[7]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[FOI #796 email]>
01/10/2021 03:38 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information
of opening banking API

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hong Kong Baptist University and now focusing
on a project related to opening banking in the development of the smart
city based on the current status of opening banking Application
Programming Interface (API). Opening banking is now a global development
emphasis and has played a significant role in building a smart city in
recent years. As an international financial center, Hong Kong needs to be
forward-looking in the plan and development in opening banking API.

Concerning the implementation and related policies, we are writing
to request further information to work on our project of evaluating,
improving, and promoting open banking in Hong Kong:

1. Stage 3 and 4 are said to be set out within 12 months in July of 2018.
However, the timeline has been changed and the progress is slower than the
previous plan.

We’d like to know the updated specific start and finish times of each
stage so that we could better know the progress of opening the API.

(The original plan: (publication on 18 July 2018)
[8]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
）

Updated Timeline:
[9]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)

2. Hong Kong’s banking industry successfully launched Phases I and II of
banking Open API in January 2019 and October 2019 respectively. Phases III
and IV will be implemented later.

We’d like to kindly ask for a detailed evaluation report of Hong Kong
Phases I and II development,(if available )to evaluate and analyze the
performance of Phases I and II, making a contrast with opening API
development with other countries, thus better helping with III and IV
development. If the report is not available please let us know how the
Authority plans to assess the effectiveness and impact of the project.

3. We have found “ The Next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([10]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...),
which

illustrates the development of the project on HKMA’s official website. As
it mentions, there were over 900 registrations by TSPs wishing to access
Phase I and II Open APIs as of Q3 2020, representing a growth of 240% from
Q1 2019. However, according to the data of TSPs in HKSTP
([11]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...), there are 33
companies that have already provided API services.

We’d like to ask how many TSPs have confirmed that they will participate
in the opening API each year after registration and why there is a big gap
between the number of registrations and true participation by TSPs.

4. We've learned that there are 24 banks and 33 third-party service
providers ([12]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...). However, we
cannot get more detailed data about the API. We’d like to learn further
about the promotion situation among the general public.

Could you please offer us information about:

The detailed customer transaction scale of the opening API in Hong Kong

Detailed registration and practice rate of customer transactions on TSPs

Total transactions of customers of TSPs

5. HKMA is the main institution of implementing the Opening API in Hong
Kong. In order to better understand the promotional efforts of HKMA for
open banking,

we’d like to know:

What instructions or guidelines does HKMA provide for the bank to
implement open banking?

What support does HKMA provide for the bank to implement open banking?

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

HONG Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #796 email]

Is [Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[13]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[14]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
2. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
3. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...
4. https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...
5. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
6. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
7. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
8. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
9. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
10. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
11. https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...
12. https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...
13. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
14. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority acknowledges receipt of your email and
will handle as soon as possible.

To ensure service quality, all our telephone conversations may be recorded,
irrespective of whether you dial in or we call you back.

We will not disclose personal information about you to anyone outside the
Hong Kong Monetary Authority unless required or permitted to do so by law.

本局已收到閣下的電郵並會盡快處理。

為確保我們的服務質素，所有閣下跟本局職員之間的電話談話內容，無論是閣下的來
電或是我們的回覆電話，都可能會被錄音。

除非是法律允許，否則我們不會向外界透露閣下的個人資料。

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to your emails dated 1 October 2021 requesting the Hong Kong
Monetary Authority (the “HKMA”) to provide information and our interim
reply to you below dated 8 October 2021.

Please be informed that we are coordinating among departments within the
HKMA and searching extensively for the requested information. We will
revert to you within 51 days from the receipt of your request (i.e. on or
before 20 November 2021) in accordance with paragraph 1.18 of the Code on
Access to Information. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

Florence Lui
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Monetary Authority

----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------

To: "HONG Xizi" ----------------------------------------- ----
<[FOI #796 email]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"HONG Xizi" ----
<[email address]> ----
cc: [email address] ----------------------------------------- ----
[email address] ----------------------------------------- ----
"19251599" <[email address]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"Yitong CHEN" ----------------------------------------- ----
<[email address]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"Simon H WANG" <[email address]> ----
----
----
----
----
bcc:
Tips
From: Public Enquiry ----------------------------------------- ----
----
Date: 08/10/2021 04:53 PM
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information of opening
banking API [1]Link

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your emails dated 1 October 2021. Please note that your
enquiry is being handled. According to paragraph 1.16 of the "Code on
Access to Information", we will inform you the progress on or before 21
October 2021.

Best regards,

Florence Lui
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Monetary Authority

----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[email address]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[email address]>
01/10/2021 03:45 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information
of opening API (2)

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hongkong Baptist University. Following the last
email, we’ve also learned that the fintech supervisory sandbox is a tool
to help tech firms or banks to launch new initiatives and it has been used
in the trial of API. Therefore, we would also like to ask for some more
information related to the Fintech supervisory sandbox.

1. We’ve learned that there are a number of 900 registrations by the TSPs
from “The next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([2]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...).
There are pilot trials of 220 fintech initiatives that have been approved
in the FSS (shown in HKMA website:
[3]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...).
The large number may be owing to the successful promotion.

Therefore, we’d like to learn the ways of promoting API and FSS to TSPs by
HKMA or through what channels could the companies know API and FSS besides
getting information from the official website.

2. We have learned from the Sandbox Website:
([4]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...)
and find that In HKMA's report on sandboxes, the only available info is
that there are 15 project design APIs that have used the sandbox, this
question is designed for exploring project-specific information.

Therefore, we’d like to get more specific information about these 15
projects to follow up on the development of these projects regarding:

a. Specific project intro (the area involved in)

b. Related APIs

c. No.of Banks that are involved

d. No. of third party companies that are involved

e. Year (beginning and maturing - endgame)

f. The current status(applied in the market or not?)

3. Comparing the policy of FCA in the UK
([5]https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...)
and the operating principles of HKMA
([6]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)
we find that there is no specific acquirement about the innovation.

We’d like to know whether there are any innovation requirements the
company that want to use sandbox in HK need to meet (e.g. the number of
years of development that this project has to meet in the existing
industry, the number of companies in the industry), and the degree of
differentiation between other companies in the existing industry (higher
technical achievements...)

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

Hong Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[email address]

Is [email address] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[7]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[8]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[email address]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[FOI #796 email]>
01/10/2021 03:38 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information
of opening banking API

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hong Kong Baptist University and now focusing
on a project related to opening banking in the development of the smart
city based on the current status of opening banking Application
Programming Interface (API). Opening banking is now a global development
emphasis and has played a significant role in building a smart city in
recent years. As an international financial center, Hong Kong needs to be
forward-looking in the plan and development in opening banking API.

Concerning the implementation and related policies, we are writing
to request further information to work on our project of evaluating,
improving, and promoting open banking in Hong Kong:

1. Stage 3 and 4 are said to be set out within 12 months in July of 2018.
However, the timeline has been changed and the progress is slower than the
previous plan.

We’d like to know the updated specific start and finish times of each
stage so that we could better know the progress of opening the API.

(The original plan: (publication on 18 July 2018)
[9]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
）

Updated Timeline:
[10]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)

2. Hong Kong’s banking industry successfully launched Phases I and II of
banking Open API in January 2019 and October 2019 respectively. Phases III
and IV will be implemented later.

We’d like to kindly ask for a detailed evaluation report of Hong Kong
Phases I and II development,(if available )to evaluate and analyze the
performance of Phases I and II, making a contrast with opening API
development with other countries, thus better helping with III and IV
development. If the report is not available please let us know how the
Authority plans to assess the effectiveness and impact of the project.

3. We have found “ The Next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([11]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...),
which

illustrates the development of the project on HKMA’s official website. As
it mentions, there were over 900 registrations by TSPs wishing to access
Phase I and II Open APIs as of Q3 2020, representing a growth of 240% from
Q1 2019. However, according to the data of TSPs in HKSTP
([12]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...), there are 33
companies that have already provided API services.

We’d like to ask how many TSPs have confirmed that they will participate
in the opening API each year after registration and why there is a big gap
between the number of registrations and true participation by TSPs.

4. We've learned that there are 24 banks and 33 third-party service
providers ([13]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...). However, we
cannot get more detailed data about the API. We’d like to learn further
about the promotion situation among the general public.

Could you please offer us information about:

The detailed customer transaction scale of the opening API in Hong Kong

Detailed registration and practice rate of customer transactions on TSPs

Total transactions of customers of TSPs

5. HKMA is the main institution of implementing the Opening API in Hong
Kong. In order to better understand the promotional efforts of HKMA for
open banking,

we’d like to know:

What instructions or guidelines does HKMA provide for the bank to
implement open banking?

What support does HKMA provide for the bank to implement open banking?

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

HONG Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #796 email]

Is [email address] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[14]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[15]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

___________________________________________________________________________________

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are
intended solely for the addressee.

If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
use, disclosure, copying, printing, forwarding or dissemination of this
e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error,
please notify the sender by reply e-mail, and immediately delete it from
your system.

Recipients are advised to apply their own virus checks to this message.
___________________________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/Notes:/OAMail06/48258409002F38D4/DABA975B9FB113EB852564B5001283EA/0243B186D4CEE76722641AC42394A370
2. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
3. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
4. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...
5. https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...
6. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
7. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
8. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
9. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
10. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
11. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
12. https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...
13. https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...
14. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
15. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

hide quoted sections

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to your emails dated 1 October 2021 requesting the Hong Kong
Monetary Authority (the “HKMA”) to provide information and our interim
reply to you below dated 8 October 2021.

Please be informed that we are coordinating among departments within the
HKMA and searching extensively for the requested information. We will
revert to you within 51 days from the receipt of your request (i.e. on or
before 20 November 2021) in accordance with paragraph 1.18 of the Code on
Access to Information. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

Florence Lui
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Monetary Authority

----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------

To: "HONG Xizi" ----------------------------------------- ----
<[FOI #796 email]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"HONG Xizi" ----
<[email address]> ----
cc: [email address] ----------------------------------------- ----
[email address] ----------------------------------------- ----
"19251599" <[email address]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"Yitong CHEN" ----------------------------------------- ----
<[email address]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"Simon H WANG" <[email address]> ----
----
----
----
----
bcc:
Tips
From: Public Enquiry ----------------------------------------- ----
----
Date: 08/10/2021 04:53 PM
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information of opening
banking API [1]Link

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your emails dated 1 October 2021. Please note that your
enquiry is being handled. According to paragraph 1.16 of the "Code on
Access to Information", we will inform you the progress on or before 21
October 2021.

Best regards,

Florence Lui
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Monetary Authority

----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[email address]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[email address]>
01/10/2021 03:45 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information
of opening API (2)

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hongkong Baptist University. Following the last
email, we’ve also learned that the fintech supervisory sandbox is a tool
to help tech firms or banks to launch new initiatives and it has been used
in the trial of API. Therefore, we would also like to ask for some more
information related to the Fintech supervisory sandbox.

1. We’ve learned that there are a number of 900 registrations by the TSPs
from “The next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([2]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...).
There are pilot trials of 220 fintech initiatives that have been approved
in the FSS (shown in HKMA website:
[3]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...).
The large number may be owing to the successful promotion.

Therefore, we’d like to learn the ways of promoting API and FSS to TSPs by
HKMA or through what channels could the companies know API and FSS besides
getting information from the official website.

2. We have learned from the Sandbox Website:
([4]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...)
and find that In HKMA's report on sandboxes, the only available info is
that there are 15 project design APIs that have used the sandbox, this
question is designed for exploring project-specific information.

Therefore, we’d like to get more specific information about these 15
projects to follow up on the development of these projects regarding:

a. Specific project intro (the area involved in)

b. Related APIs

c. No.of Banks that are involved

d. No. of third party companies that are involved

e. Year (beginning and maturing - endgame)

f. The current status(applied in the market or not?)

3. Comparing the policy of FCA in the UK
([5]https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...)
and the operating principles of HKMA
([6]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)
we find that there is no specific acquirement about the innovation.

We’d like to know whether there are any innovation requirements the
company that want to use sandbox in HK need to meet (e.g. the number of
years of development that this project has to meet in the existing
industry, the number of companies in the industry), and the degree of
differentiation between other companies in the existing industry (higher
technical achievements...)

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

Hong Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[email address]

Is [email address] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[7]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[8]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[email address]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[FOI #796 email]>
01/10/2021 03:38 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information
of opening banking API

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hong Kong Baptist University and now focusing
on a project related to opening banking in the development of the smart
city based on the current status of opening banking Application
Programming Interface (API). Opening banking is now a global development
emphasis and has played a significant role in building a smart city in
recent years. As an international financial center, Hong Kong needs to be
forward-looking in the plan and development in opening banking API.

Concerning the implementation and related policies, we are writing
to request further information to work on our project of evaluating,
improving, and promoting open banking in Hong Kong:

1. Stage 3 and 4 are said to be set out within 12 months in July of 2018.
However, the timeline has been changed and the progress is slower than the
previous plan.

We’d like to know the updated specific start and finish times of each
stage so that we could better know the progress of opening the API.

(The original plan: (publication on 18 July 2018)
[9]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
）

Updated Timeline:
[10]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)

2. Hong Kong’s banking industry successfully launched Phases I and II of
banking Open API in January 2019 and October 2019 respectively. Phases III
and IV will be implemented later.

We’d like to kindly ask for a detailed evaluation report of Hong Kong
Phases I and II development,(if available )to evaluate and analyze the
performance of Phases I and II, making a contrast with opening API
development with other countries, thus better helping with III and IV
development. If the report is not available please let us know how the
Authority plans to assess the effectiveness and impact of the project.

3. We have found “ The Next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([11]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...),
which

illustrates the development of the project on HKMA’s official website. As
it mentions, there were over 900 registrations by TSPs wishing to access
Phase I and II Open APIs as of Q3 2020, representing a growth of 240% from
Q1 2019. However, according to the data of TSPs in HKSTP
([12]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...), there are 33
companies that have already provided API services.

We’d like to ask how many TSPs have confirmed that they will participate
in the opening API each year after registration and why there is a big gap
between the number of registrations and true participation by TSPs.

4. We've learned that there are 24 banks and 33 third-party service
providers ([13]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...). However, we
cannot get more detailed data about the API. We’d like to learn further
about the promotion situation among the general public.

Could you please offer us information about:

The detailed customer transaction scale of the opening API in Hong Kong

Detailed registration and practice rate of customer transactions on TSPs

Total transactions of customers of TSPs

5. HKMA is the main institution of implementing the Opening API in Hong
Kong. In order to better understand the promotional efforts of HKMA for
open banking,

we’d like to know:

What instructions or guidelines does HKMA provide for the bank to
implement open banking?

What support does HKMA provide for the bank to implement open banking?

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

HONG Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #796 email]

Is [email address] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[14]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[15]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

___________________________________________________________________________________

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are
intended solely for the addressee.

If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
use, disclosure, copying, printing, forwarding or dissemination of this
e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error,
please notify the sender by reply e-mail, and immediately delete it from
your system.

Recipients are advised to apply their own virus checks to this message.
___________________________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/Notes:/OAMail06/48258409002F38D4/DABA975B9FB113EB852564B5001283EA/0243B186D4CEE76722641AC42394A370
2. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
3. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
4. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...
5. https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...
6. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
7. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
8. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
9. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
10. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...
11. https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
12. https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...
13. https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...
14. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
15. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

hide quoted sections

Dear Ms Lui
Could you answer some of the questions as soon as possible
instead of furnishing a reply when answers to all the questions are ready?
Thanks.
Yours sincerely
Simon Wang
On Thu, 21 Oct 2021 at 17:04, <[1][Hong Kong Monetary Authority request email]> wrote:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to your emails dated 1 October 2021 requesting the Hong Kong
Monetary Authority (the “HKMA”) to provide information and our interim
reply to you below dated 8 October 2021.

Please be informed that we are coordinating among departments within the
HKMA and searching extensively for the requested information. We will
revert to you within 51 days from the receipt of your request (i.e. on
or before 20 November 2021) in accordance with paragraph 1.18 of the
Code on Access to Information. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

Florence Lui
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Monetary Authority

----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------

To: "HONG Xizi" ----------------------------------------- ----
<[2][FOI #796 email]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"HONG Xizi" ----
<[3][email address]> ----
cc: [4][email address] ----------------------------------------- ----
[5][email address] ----------------------------------------- ----
"19251599" <[6][email address]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"Yitong CHEN" ----------------------------------------- ----
<[7][email address]> ----------------------------------------- ----
"Simon H WANG" <[8][email address]> ----
----
----
----
----
bcc:
Tips
From: Public Enquiry ----------------------------------------- ----
----
Date: 08/10/2021 04:53 PM
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed information of opening banking
API [9]Link

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your emails dated 1 October 2021. Please note that your
enquiry is being handled. According to paragraph 1.16 of the "Code on
Access to Information", we will inform you the progress on or before 21
October 2021.

Best regards,

Florence Lui
Access to Information Officer
Hong Kong Monetary Authority

----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------- Reply History
-----------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[10][email address]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[11][email address]>
01/10/2021 03:45 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed
information of opening API (2)

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hongkong Baptist University. Following the last
email, we’ve also learned that the fintech supervisory sandbox is a tool
to help tech firms or banks to launch new initiatives and it has been
used in the trial of API. Therefore, we would also like to ask for some
more information related to the Fintech supervisory sandbox.

1. We’ve learned that there are a number of 900 registrations by the
TSPs from “The next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([12]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...).
There are pilot trials of 220 fintech initiatives that have been
approved in the FSS (shown in HKMA website:
[13]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...).
The large number may be owing to the successful promotion.

Therefore, we’d like to learn the ways of promoting API and FSS to TSPs
by HKMA or through what channels could the companies know API and FSS
besides getting information from the official website.

2. We have learned from the Sandbox Website:
([14]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/gb_chi/key-funct...)
and find that In HKMA's report on sandboxes, the only available info is
that there are 15 project design APIs that have used the sandbox, this
question is designed for exploring project-specific information.

Therefore, we’d like to get more specific information about these 15
projects to follow up on the development of these projects regarding:

a. Specific project intro (the area involved in)

b. Related APIs

c. No.of Banks that are involved

d. No. of third party companies that are involved

e. Year (beginning and maturing - endgame)

f. The current status(applied in the market or not?)

3. Comparing the policy of FCA in the UK
([15]https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/innovation/...)
and the operating principles of HKMA
([16]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)
we find that there is no specific acquirement about the innovation.

We’d like to know whether there are any innovation requirements the
company that want to use sandbox in HK need to meet (e.g. the number of
years of development that this project has to meet in the existing
industry, the number of companies in the industry), and the degree of
differentiation between other companies in the existing industry (higher
technical achievements...)

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

Hong Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated
via the [17]accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[18][email address]

Is [19][email address] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using
this form:

[20]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published
on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[21]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

To: "FOI requests at Hong Kong Monetary Authority"
<[22][email address]>
Cc:
Bcc:
Tips
From: "HONG Xizi" <[23][FOI #796 email]>
01/10/2021 03:38 PM
Subject Freedom of Information request - Request for detailed
information of opening banking API

Dear Hong Kong Monetary Authority,

We are students from Hong Kong Baptist University and now
focusing on a project related to opening banking in the development of
the smart city based on the current status of opening banking
Application Programming Interface (API). Opening banking is now a global
development emphasis and has played a significant role in building a
smart city in recent years. As an international financial center, Hong
Kong needs to be forward-looking in the plan and development in opening
banking API.

Concerning the implementation and related policies, we are
writing to request further information to work on our project of
evaluating, improving, and promoting open banking in Hong Kong:

1. Stage 3 and 4 are said to be set out within 12 months in July of
2018. However, the timeline has been changed and the progress is slower
than the previous plan.

We’d like to know the updated specific start and finish times of each
stage so that we could better know the progress of opening the API.

(The original plan: (publication on 18 July 2018)
[24]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...
）

Updated Timeline:
[25]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-function...)

2. Hong Kong’s banking industry successfully launched Phases I and II of
banking Open API in January 2019 and October 2019 respectively. Phases
III and IV will be implemented later.

We’d like to kindly ask for a detailed evaluation report of Hong Kong
Phases I and II development,(if available )to evaluate and analyze the
performance of Phases I and II, making a contrast with opening API
development with other countries, thus better helping with III and IV
development. If the report is not available please let us know how the
Authority plans to assess the effectiveness and impact of the project.

3. We have found “ The Next Phase of the Banking Open API Journey”
([26]https://www.hkma.gov.hk/media/eng/doc/ke...),
which

illustrates the development of the project on HKMA’s official website.
As it mentions, there were over 900 registrations by TSPs wishing to
access Phase I and II Open APIs as of Q3 2020, representing a growth of
240% from Q1 2019. However, according to the data of TSPs in HKSTP
([27]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...), there are 33
companies that have already provided API services.

We’d like to ask how many TSPs have confirmed that they will participate
in the opening API each year after registration and why there is a big
gap between the number of registrations and true participation by TSPs.

4. We've learned that there are 24 banks and 33 third-party service
providers ([28]https://datastudio-fintech.hkstp.org/tsp...). However,
we cannot get more detailed data about the API. We’d like to learn
further about the promotion situation among the general public.

Could you please offer us information about:

The detailed customer transaction scale of the opening API in Hong Kong

Detailed registration and practice rate of customer transactions on TSPs

Total transactions of customers of TSPs

5. HKMA is the main institution of implementing the Opening API in Hong
Kong. In order to better understand the promotional efforts of HKMA for
open banking,

we’d like to know:

What instructions or guidelines does HKMA provide for the bank to
implement open banking?

What support does HKMA provide for the bank to implement open banking?

Thanks a lot for your time and looking forward to your early reply. Wish
you all the best!

Yours faithfully,

HONG Xizi, Liu Suqi, Song Yijin, Chen Yitong

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated
via the [29]accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[30][FOI #796 email]

Is [31][email address] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Hong Kong Monetary Authority? If so, please contact us using
this form:

[32]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published
on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[33]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

___________________________________________________________________________________

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are
intended solely for the addressee.

If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
use, disclosure, copying, printing, forwarding or dissemination of this
e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in
error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail, and immediately delete
it from your system.

Recipients are advised to apply their own virus checks to this message.
___________________________________________________________________________________

--
Dr Simon Wang, Ph.D., FHEA
Lecturer in English
Language Centre
Hong Kong Baptist University
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Phone: (852) 34117044
[34]http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php
[35]Writing for the Public Project

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer

This message (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information intended for a specific individual and/or purpose. If you are
not the intended recipient, please delete this message and notify the
sender and the University immediately. Any disclosure, copying, or
distribution of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, is
prohibited as it may be unlawful.

In addition, the University specifically denies any responsibility for the
accuracy or quality of information obtained through University E-mail
Facilities. Any views and opinions expressed in the email(s) are those of
the author(s), and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of
the University. The University accepts no liability whatsoever for any
losses or damages that may be incurred or caused to any party as a result
of the use of such information.