Two banks apply to Hong Kong fintech sandbox to test biometric technologies

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Chief Executive Norman Chan announced that the country’s banking regulator received applications from two banks in order to test emerging technologies in biometric, under a new regulatory regime, Reuters reported.

Chan told during the regulator's first fintech day that the banks have applied to test the use of biometric authentication of securities trading. He did not however reveal the name of the banks.

"So far two banks have already made use of the sandbox to conduct private trials of their biometric authentication in securities trading services. A few banks are discussing with us and planning to make use of the sandbox for...areas such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and many more," he said.

Earlier in September, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the new regime that allows banks to use a "sandbox" to test new technologies on a limited basis, prior to deploying them to the general public.