This entry is only available in 中文.

Introduction

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) released a position paper titled “e-HKD: Charting the Next Steps” on 20 September 2022 (the “Position Paper”) to set out its policy stance on retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), i.e. e-HKD, and outline its next steps. Based on the findings and comments received from the technical whitepaper titled “e-HKD: A technical perspective” published in October 2021 and the policy discussion whitepaper titled “e-HKD: A policy and design perspective” published in April 2022, the HKMA considers it necessary to start paving the way for possible future implementation of e-HKD. In this news update, we will focus primarily on the development of e-HKD, its legal status, and relevant features contemplated under the Position Paper.

On 4 November 2022, our Partner Milly Hung and Senior Associate Michael Lau delivered a hybrid seminar on “Walk through the end-to-end journey in Cyber Risk Management to get you up to speed”. They shed light on the legal issues of current cybersecurity practices, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s and Insurance Authority’s compliance guidelines on cybersecurity, Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (“PDPO”), and the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDGR”). The seminar also invited an experienced Cyber-Security Lead in FSI (Financial Service Industry), Mr. Anthony Cheng, to explain the different types of cyberattacks and the available tools/means to tackle in Hong Kong.

Our Partner Rodney Teoh and his team members, Associate Angela Lau and Paralegal Calvin KW Lo, have recently been invited to be the exclusive contributor to the article “Overview of The Hong Kong Fintech and Blockchain Landscape”, published by The Legal 500: Fintech Country Comparative Guide 2022.

Sorry, this entry is only available in 中文.

Introduction

On 31 October 2022, Hong Kong’s Fintech Week 2022 commenced with the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) releasing a policy statement (the “Policy Statement”) on the Government’s measures and plans for the development of virtual assets (“VA”), including discussion on its vision, approach, the new licensing regime for VA service providers (the “VASP Regime”) (see our news update on the AMLO Bill (as defined below) implementing the VASP Regime here), green bond tokenisation (see our news update on green bond here) and allowing retail investors to trade cryptocurrencies.