Financial Inclusion and Bank Account Opening: Deploying Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology for Improving Banking Services Accessibility Inside Hong Kong’s Anti-Money Laundering Law

Professor Lee, Emily Hsiang-Hui   (Principal Investigator (PI))

25

2017-12-13

257000

Financial Inclusion and Bank Account Opening: Deploying Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology for Improving Banking Services Accessibility Inside Hong Kong’s Anti-Money Laundering Law

Bank account opening, Banking services accessibility, Financial inclusion, Financial technology (FinTech), Regulatory technology (RegTech)

Law

Humanities & Social Sciences (H)

2017.A8.064.17C

Public Policy Research Funding Scheme

2017

Completed

1. To raise public awareness of the need for financial inclusion and examine the legal issues behind banks’ recent proclivity to ""de-risking"", which is intertwined with know your customers (KYC) requirements and customer due diligence (CDD) measures as banks prepare to meet enhanced AML/CFT requirements; 2. To apply the economic analysis of law (specifically, microeconomic/macroeconomic theories and behavioural economics/behavioural finance) to the analysis of the interplay between financial exclusion and AML/CFT law; 3. To organise one conference by inviting representatives from the HKMA, banking institutions, financial law experts and public policy makers to discuss the factors that cause and contribute to the problem of financial exclusion and the potential resolutions that could improve financial inclusion; 4. To engage in knowledge exchange by executing the dissemination plan; 5. To contribute to the existing AML/CFT and banking literature and larger body of academic knowledge by publishing two articles in both academic and professional journals. Specifically, the PI will 1) provide an academic perspective on the practical implications of FinTech in relation to financial inclusion by examining and expounding the interplay between FinTech and RegTech; 2) provide policy analyses on financial inclusion and FinTech for consideration by Hong Kong’s policy makers and law makers; and 3) explore under-researched and yet significant issues concerning account opening. In this regard, the PI will seek to publish regulatory comments for issues that have not yet been fully accounted for by the HKMA but will be examined under this proposed research for improving banking facilities accessibility