Hong Kong, Shanghai sign pact on digital trade finance, cross-border data link

Hong Kong and Shanghai have signed an accord deepening their collaboration in promoting digitised cargo trade finance and strengthening mainland China’s connection to the global data ecosystem.The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Shanghai Data Bureau and the National Technology Innovation Centre for Blockchain, according to a statement from Hong Kong’s de facto central bank.“This marks an important milestone in the collaboration on financial innovation between Shanghai and Hong Kong, and underscores the joint commitment to strengthen collaboration between the two jurisdictions in digitised cargo trade and finance,” HKMA deputy chief executive Howard Lee Tat-chi said.The MOU, according to Lee, would help the three signatories explore and promote digitised trade finance, as well as facilitate the integration of mainland China’s cargo and trade data with the international data ecosystem via Hong Kong.Under the agreement, Hong Kong and Shanghai will explore using electronic bills of lading instead of traditional paper documents, while the electronic trade data will be studied via the HKMA’s Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) and CargoX.Project CargoX, part of HKMA’s fintech 2030 strategy, entails using blockchain and data to help exporters secure bank loans more easily and strengthen Hong Kong’s role as an international trading hub.