Commercial and residential buildings are seen in Hong Kong on Sept 15, 2022. (ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Monday launched a new electronic platform, the Commercial Data Interchange (CDI), which will facilitate small and medium-sized enterprises’ exchange of data with their banks to facilitate loan processing.
The rollout of CDI aligns with the HKMA’s “Fintech 2025” strategy to create a next-generation data infrastructure and form an ecosystem for secure and seamless data exchange in Hong Kong.
With the launch of CDI, financial institutions could embrace more innovative applications to digitalize and streamline a wide range of financial processes, such as “Know-Your-Customer”, credit assessment, loan approval and risk management
With the launch of CDI, financial institutions could embrace more innovative applications to digitalize and streamline a wide range of financial processes, such as “Know-Your-Customer”, credit assessment, loan approval and risk management.
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During the pilot launch, CDI registered over HK$1.6 billion ($204 million) in approved SME loans, according to the HKMA, which also stated that the proven usefulness of alternative data has attracted the participation of 23 banks with material SME business and 10 data providers in CDI.
In particular, six key data providers with substantial SME data have joined CDI at its official launch and will start providing consented access for banks in the CDI production environment. The commercial data involved will include e-trade declarations, e-commerce, supply chains, and payment and credit-reference data in this phase.
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The CDI framework detailing the governance model and structure was also introduced on Monday to ensure that all CDI participants follow a common set of rules for “proper, fair and secure exchange of commercial data”.
“With tremendous support from banks and data providers across various sectors, we are delighted to see CDI evolving from an idea to a pilot, and eventually a production-ready infrastructure throughout this two-year journey,” said Howard Lee Tat-chi, HKMA’s deputy chief executive.
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“Today’s official launch is a milestone signifying a new era of data sharing. We believe CDI will become a key enabler for multilateral data sharing among banks and data providers, catalyzing financial innovations.”
