Hongkongers willing to share financial details to get tailored banking services, survey finds
- More than half of consumers surveyed said they would be willing to share data with developers
- Survey comes as Hong Kong moves forward with open banking push
More than half of Hong Kong consumers are willing to share their financial data with third parties other than their banks to receive more tailored financial services, such as a better mortgage or savings rate, according to a survey by the consulting firm Accenture on Thursday.
The survey comes as the first phase of Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s new initiative – Open Application Interface – went live this week. It allows developers to access bank data to create new integrated banking services in Hong Kong.
It is one of HKMA’s several measures to develop new technology and keep the city’s financial services competitive, such as the faster payment system – that allows instant fund transfers between banks and among payment platforms – introduced last September.
The first banks in Hong Kong began offering product data on savings and current accounts, mortgages, foreign exchange rates and branch information through the Open API this week, with more coming online later this month.
“Banks still enjoy a lot of trust from consumers, but Hongkongers are willing to share their financial data if they know they’ll get something in return – indicating that the foundations are clearly there for Hong Kong to leapfrog many markets with open banking solutions,” said Fergus Gordon, who heads Accenture’s banking practice in Asia-Pacific and Africa.
By comparison, consumers in Australia and the UK were much less comfortable with sharing their financial information, according to research by Accenture in 2017 and 2018.
Two-thirds of consumers in Australia said they were unwilling to share their data, while 69 per cent of Britons said they would not share their bank account information with third parties.