Today the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced an expansion of its role in the pilots for China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eCNY. It announced that Hong Kong residents can top up their eCNY wallets using Hong Kong’s Faster Payment System (FPS). That functionality was first made available during last year’s Asian Games, but the scope might have been limited to only these tourists and certain banks. Now 17 Hong Kong banks support top ups via FPS.
The FPS functionality supports the ability for Hong Kong residents to create eCNY wallets while still in Hong Kong.
Eddit Yue, CEO of the HKMA noted that Hong Kong has “become the first place outside the Mainland that enables its residents to set up e-CNY wallets locally.” He added, “We will continue to work closely with the PBoC (People’s Bank of China) to gradually expand the applications of e-CNY, enrich the range of functionalities of the e-CNY wallet available to Hong Kong residents and step up efforts in promoting the acceptance of e-CNY by more retail merchants in the two places.”
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