MR CHAN CHUN-YING (in Cantonese):
Deputy President, in part (3) of the main reply, the Secretary says, “HKMA has carried out research on CBDC … HKMA has no plan to issue CBDC at this stage but will continue to monitor the international development.” As also mentioned by a colleague earlier, the development of digital currencies is supported internationally. Under the currency issuance system in Hong Kong, all the coins and $10 notes are issued by the Government, and the paper notes of other face values are issued by three commercial banks, namely the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited and the Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, authorized by HKMA. If this is an ongoing international trend and HKMA finally decides to follow, will HKMA issue CBDC alone, or will the three note-issuing banks be allowed to share the job as in the case of the existing arrangement?
SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND THE TREASURY (in Cantonese):
Deputy President, HKMA has joined hands with the three note-issuing banks, the Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited and the R3 consortium to conduct a study on the introduction of CBDC in the context of Hong Kong. At this moment, the proof-of-concept work has generally been completed. HKMA is now analysing the data and results of the study. It is also studying the impact of the issuing of CBDC on the payments and the entire financial system of Hong Kong. HKMA has no plan to issue CBDC at this stage, but after the study is finished, it will review the feasibility and pros and cons of issuing CBDC.