Smart economy
Mr CHAN Chun-ying noted that the Administration intended to introduce a Faster Payment System by 2018 which supported users to transfer money anytime and anywhere by phone number or e-mail address, and to facilitate the development of a QR code payment standard. He said that the People’s Bank of China had recently announced that a ceiling of RMB500 would be imposed on the amount of transaction each day using QR code payments, given the security risks associated with the use of QR code. Mr CHAN Chunying asked whether the Administration had reviewed the risk factors of the QR code technology and whether the Administration would also introduce a transaction ceiling. Mr CHAN also asked whether the Administration would adopt facial biometrics technology in other areas apart from boarding pass checkpoint, boarding and check-in.
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (“USFST”) said that the Faster Payment System would be introduced in September 2018 which would be a platform connecting to banks and stored value facilities operators, so that they would be able to offer a round-the-clock payment and transaction services for personal and corporate payment and transfer.
As regards the development of a QR code payment standard, USFST said that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) had set up a working group with the financial sector to develop a common QR code payment standard. He added that, while encouraging creativity in financial technology, the Administration would take extra care to ensure protection of consumer rights. USFST further supplemented that in developing the regulatory regime, HKMA would require operators of stored value facilities to have a robust management mechanism to monitor and evaluate the risks and security of those payment systems.
GCIO said that QR code payment standards were developed and used in many countries. The objective was to improve the safety in the use of QR code. It did not imply that there was inherent risk in the QR code technology. GCIO added that the Administration was also looking into other applications of biometrics technology, such as in the implementation of eID.
Presentation by the Administration
Mr CHAN Chun-ying noted that some 40% of the total funding amount under CSI had been committed for nurturing creative talents at their early stage of development and facilitating start-ups. While CSI had helped provide 42 200 nurturing opportunities, only 15 070 jobs were created. Mr CHAN asked whether the prospects in the sectors were poor or whether the remuneration or conditions of employment were not attractive enough to retain talents. SCED said the statistics pertained to CSI projects funded thus far, and undertook to provide supplementary information to respond to the member’s queries.