Financial Inclusion, a Hong Kong Perspective

Speaker: Dr Emily Lee (University of Hong Kong)

Abstract: 

This workshop will examine the problem of banks’ de-risking practices inside Hong Kong’s Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. It will consider the relative merits of principle versus rule based financial regulation in the enhancement of financial services regulatory compliance, and the impact of a multitude of financial reform causes, namely the promotion of financial technology (FinTech) innovation, the facilitation of regulatory technology (RegTech) development and eventually, an increase in financial inclusion. As financial authorities are harnessing the power of FinTech to enable RegTech empowered supervision and oversight, the workshop is positioned to be a springboard for constructive discussions on financial inclusion for those groups most affected by the de-banking, including small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups in Hong Kong. Ultimately, the workshop will examine how financial market stability and integrity can be sustained through both a digital financial inclusion framework and a legal and regulatory framework that consists of AML/CFT safeguards and their variable approaches (e.g. the risk-based approach, the proportionality approach, and the costs and benefit balancing approach) to address the customer due diligence requirements, as well as financial consumer protection against digital financial and digital technology risks.

About the Speaker:

Emily Lee (LLB, LLM, PhD) is associate professor and deputy director for the Asian Institute of International Financial Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong. Her research interests are in the fields of financial law, corporate insolvency law, cross-border insolvency law and comparative law (comparative financial law and comparative corporate insolvency law). She holds a Public Policy Research grant funded by the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region, with the project title “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”. The project consists of interdisciplinary research on law and technology, focusing especially on FinTech and RegTech and their intricacies in AML/CFT law and regulation compliance. Her research work has been published by leading peer-reviewed journals such as the American Journal of Comparative Law, Journal of Corporate Law Studies and Journal of Business Law.

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