Four years ago, Hong Kong bet big on Fintech 2025, a sweeping plan to turn itself into a fintech powerhouse. It envisioned modernised banks, better data infrastructure, and a fintech ecosystem that could rival other fintech hubs.

Now, midway through 2025, the question beckons: has the city realised its strategy, or is it still catching up?

An Overview of Fintech 2025

Back in June 2021, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) showcased Fintech 2025, a strategic blueprint to accelerate the city’s fintech development. The vision was anchored on three key pillars: demand, data, and ecosystem.

The need to spur demand by facilitating the adoption of technology for banks. The drive to strengthen data infrastructure to enable fintech applications. The underlying need to grow Hong Kong’s fintech ecosystem.

The framework focuses on five areas: All Banks Go Fintech, Future-Proofing for CBDCs, Creating Next-Gen Data Infrastructure, Expanding Fintech-Savvy Workforce, and Nurturing Ecosystem with Funding and Policies.

A Glance at the Current State of Hong Kong’s Fintech 2025

How far along has Hong Kong come in turning its Fintech 2025 vision into a reality?

All Banks Go Fintech

This part of the Fintech 2025 plan focused on driving widespread fintech adoption across Hong Kong’s banking sector through five key initiatives: regtech adoption, exploring greentech, offering guidance on using novel technologies, conducting a tech baseline assessment and reinforcing the HKMA’s commitment to digitalisation.

Since then, the HKMA completed the Tech Baseline Assessment in June 2022, which was used to evaluate banks’ fintech adoption. It also identified further developments in wealthtech, insurtech, greentech, AI, and Distributed Ledger Technology or DLT.

To build on this momentum, the Fintech Promotion Roadmap was introduced in August 2023. It outlined a series of initiatives for the HKMA, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), and the Insurance Authority (IA) to push fintech adoption even further.

It featured a packed lineup of activities over the following 12 months, which included showcase events, roundtables, seminars, and a new Fintech Knowledge Hub, as well as training sessions, practical guidelines and promotional videos.

In doing so, these efforts opened up avenues for financial institutions to share practical insights, spark cross-sector innovation, and grow their fintech networks.

Future-Proofing for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

This segment focused on preparing for CBDCs at both retail and wholesale levels, exploring e-HKD, deploying e-CNY for cross-border transactions, and leveraging the multiple CBDC Bridge for wholesale markets.

This included Project mBridge, a cross-border CBDC initiative involving Hong Kong and several other central banks which hit its minimum viable product stage in 2024. Moving forward, the goal is to bring more public and private institutions onboard, creating a stronger network effect.

The HKMA is also using its CBDC research to advance the tokenisation market. In 2024, it launched Project Ensemble, introducing four initial themes for initial tokenisation experiments. The HKMA has since built and launched a sandbox designed for interbank settlements using experimental tokenised money, focusing on transactions involving tokenised assets.

As of April 2025, the sandbox is testing use cases such as liquidity management, supply chain finance, green finance, and investment funds, with Ant Group now an active participant.

Project Ensemble’s scope extends beyond Hong Kong, with collaborations involving central banks in Thailand, Brazil, and France to explore cross-border tokenisation applications.

Next-Generation Data Infrastructure

The third segment aims to boost technology adoption across the industry by strengthening infrastructure enablement. This includes initiatives such as the Commercial Data Interchange (CDI), a digital corporate identity framework, and a DLT-based credit data sharing system.

Launched in October 2022, the CDI has simplified data sharing between banks and data providers by replacing multiple one-to-one connections with a single streamlined link.

It encourages innovation by allowing a high level of independence among participants, standardises APIs for easier integration, and ensures that all data exchange is consent-based for added control and security.

From its launch to March 2025, the platform has attracted over 40 participants and facilitated an estimated HK$41.9 billion in credit approvals.

Next, according to a notice from the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer in June 2024, the government will set up a digital corporate identity platform, dubbed the “business version of iAM Smart.”

The expenditure is estimated to be at about $300 million, and the aim is to roll the platform progressively from end-2026 onwards.

Expanding the Fintech-Savvy Workforce

This segment focuses on developing well-rounded fintech talent, targeting both students and industry practitioners. Key initiatives include capacity-building programmes, the Enhanced Competency Framework on Fintech, the Industry Project Masters Network (IPMN), and the establishment of fintech labs.

In a keynote speech in November 2024, Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the HKMA, shared that the HKMA used a two-pronged talent strategy: upskilling existing banking professionals while attracting new talent into the industry.

Programmes such as the Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme (FCAS) and IPMN have already nurtured more than 1,500 young talents, many of whom have continued their careers in finance and fintech after graduation.

The HKMA has also worked closely with strategic partners, including Bloomberg and the GBA Fintech Talent Initiative, to further strengthen talent development efforts.

Nurturing the Ecosystem with Funding and Policies

The final segment centres on supporting the growth of Hong Kong’s fintech industry through coordinated initiatives such as the HK Growth Portfolio, Fintech Supervisory Sandbox (FSS) 3.0, and the Cross-Agency Coordination Group.

The FSS enables banks and their technology partners to run pilot trials of fintech solutions with a limited pool of participating customers, without requiring the need for full compliance with the HKMA’s supervisory framework during the testing phase.

To further enhance the sandbox, the HKMA partnered with Cyberport to launch FSS 3.1 in 2024. By the end of June 2025, the sandbox had already facilitated 373 pilot trials of fintech initiatives.

Want the Full Picture of Hong Kong’s Fintech?

This article only scratches the surface of Hong Kong’s fintech transformation.

The full Fintech Hong Kong 2025 Report by Fintech News Hong Kong dives deeper into funding trends, regulatory milestones, digital banking performance, and key players shaping the next wave of innovation.

Download the full report to explore exclusive fintech insights on what’s next for Hong Kong.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by user21727184 on Freepik