Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) announced that it has joined fintech industry leaders in lauding the success of the first-ever Apidays LIVE Hong Kong which was held on 8 October 2020.
Apidays is the leading industry technology and business series of conferences in Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and the programmable economy. Since 2012, the worldwide conference has run across 13 countries and cities such as London, New York and Singapore.
Themed as “The Open API Economy: Finance-as-a-Service & API Ecosystems”, Apidays LIVE Hong Kong attracted more than 1,000 audience members and 52 speakers from the territory and overseas. The tracks for the Hong Kong conference covered topics including API-driven economy and architecture, as well as the trends and technologies of Open Banking.
Organised by HKSTP and Hong Kong’s leading API development company, Apidays landed in Hong Kong this year among other destinations, bringing in industry thought-leaders to share their latest insights.
At the Hong Kong conference, HKSTP hosted a signature session titled “Co-creating API Ecosystem for Financial Services” with key representatives from leading banks to share the power of open APIs and the transformative potential of financial services. In addition, seven Park companies were invited to share the development of the API community in Hong Kong.
The Head of Electronics & ICT Clusters of HKSTP stated that it is exciting to have brought Apidays to Hong Kong for the first time. The world is moving towards Open Banking, and Hong Kong is championing a vision to deliver this reality. A stream of innovation created through this open collaboration model is expected shortly.
To enable rapid collaboration between technology companies and financial institutions, HKSTP is rolling out an OpenEX program (Open for Excellence) to promote industry standards for technology companies to get onboard. The program will support participating start-ups and companies in going through the standard assessment process, providing a positive impetus to promote and adopt innovation and technology in the financial sector.
As a partner company of HKSTP, the API development company is a pioneer in Open APIs providing platforms to enable businesses across industries to rapidly deliver new service models and offerings. The firm is driving industry-wide development of APIs for businesses by organising this international conference, to improve digital user experience and explore cross-industry innovation, its CEO noted. Working with HKSTP and leading enterprises, the company will build an Open API ecosystem, allowing start-ups to integrate and collaborate with enterprises via innovative API services.
Propelling API development in Hong Kong
The formulation of the Open API Framework is one of the seven initiatives announced by the HKMA in September 2017 to prepare Hong Kong to move into a new era of Smart Banking. Following a public consultation, the HKMA published the Open API Framework for the Hong Kong Banking Sector on 18 July 2018.
The Framework takes a risk-based principle and a four-phase approach to implement various Open API functions, and recommends prevailing international technical and security standards to ensure fast and safe adoption. It also lays out detailed expectations on how banks should onboard and maintain a relationship with TSPs in a manner that ensures consumer protection. The HKMA believes that the Framework will serve as an important guide for the banking industry in Hong Kong to adopt APIs effectively and strike a good balance between innovation and risks.
The key benefits of Open API can be reaped only if it is widely, securely and cost-effectively implemented in the banking sector. The HKMA will therefore work closely with the banking industry in implementing Open API effectively, securely and smoothly through the development of the governance structure and necessary guidance during the implementation process.
