SFC Publishes “Report on the Adoption of Regtech for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of

“As part of Hong Kong’s continued fintech development, Regtech adoption has made exciting progress in the financial sector over the past few years. To update you all on this progress, the SFC publishes the report, to highlight use cases and help financial firms further adopt Regtech. I thank those of you who have helped us in this survey, and encourage you all to read the report,” said Ms Julia Leung, Chief Executive Officer of the SFC. Ms Julia Leung believes that overall, the findings of the report are highly encouraging: Hong Kong’s Regtech adoption has advanced in major anti-money laundering, or AML, processes over the past three years. Among the 50 firms surveyed, more than 80% confirmed their AML ability has improved, thanks to Regtech.  According to the report, a majority of the firms have implemented Regtech solutions in at least one key process. The adoption rate was as high as 92% for name screening, followed by about 70% for both customer due diligence and transaction monitoring. In general, Regtech has covered more AML processes, and more advanced technologies are deployed. Ms Julia Leung said, “These data represent a remarkable improvement and upskilling since our last survey in 2021. Three years ago, only about half of the surveyed firms reported using technologies in AML processes, and the conventional methods employed were a far cry from the Regtech we have today. This fresh momentum reflects more firms are pursuing better ways to address the growing scale and sophistication of financial crimes in recent years.”