In his book, The Other Side of the Story , Nury Vittachi argues that most Hong Kong people are apolitical, and he uses low voter turnout as evidence: “Sometimes they register but don’t turn up at the polling station, but mostly they don’t even register.” I disagree. The percentage of registered voters has risen from 62 per cent in 1997 to 80 per cent, and the most recent two elections, the 2019 District Council and the 2021 Election Committee elections, had record turnouts ( 71 per cent and 90 per cent , respectively). This represents a strong and growing interest in the good governance of this city that we all love. I see voting as a civic duty. The simple act of peacefully going to a polling station, marking a ballot paper according to one’s conscience and depositing it in the ballot box, secure in the knowledge that the ballot is secret and therefore free from threats and intimidation, is an essential part of the democratic process. Each voter should carefully study the candidates’ manifestos and past actions and only give their support to a candidate who truly represents what they believe in. Don’t let anyone suggest that Hong Kong people are indifferent to how they are governed. Let your peaceful, positive action of turning out on polling day show your care, and let the results show the voters’ decision. Allan Dyer, Wong Chuk Hang Open banking: Hong Kong can learn from Singapore With reference to the letter, “Open banking should be a fintech focus” ( November 15 ), we agree with your correspondents that InvestHK should feature more speakers on this topic in future FinTech Weeks. To further advance open banking in the city, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority should speed up the development of open Application Programming Interface (API) frameworks – the technical infrastructure for open banking – and offer fintech firms more support, following the exemplary practices in Singapore. The authority aims to provide a secure, controlled and convenient operating environment to allow banks and their partner service providers to offer innovative banking services. Taking a phased approach, it has offered open API frameworks for delivering product information (phase one) and acquiring customers who can subscribe or apply for new services (phase two). The third and fourth phases, for account information and transactions, will be launched in 2022 with about 28 participating banks. The authority offers a Fintech Supervisory Sandbox for banks and companies to implement open banking projects. Only 15 projects have been found in the sandbox utilising the APIs. The lukewarm response could be attributed to the lengthy procedure for fintech companies applying to use the sandbox and the limited functions of the API frameworks. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has taken a more proactive approach to supporting open banking in the city state. Its APIX platform, a robust innovation lab, promotes collaboration between 77 major financial institutions and 1,057 fintech service providers to accelerate innovative open banking projects. The platform features over 250 APIs that support a range of banking services and allows registered users to develop their projects using these APIs through hackathons without lengthy applications. The authority also published an API playbook that recommends 411 APIs based on evaluation of 5,600 business processes for fintech firms to pursue open banking projects. In July, gini , a Hong Kong-based fintech start-up, decided to leave the city after its failed attempts to connect its personal finance app to local banks via APIs. The company stopped supporting Hong Kong banks on its app, citing the regulatory environment in the city. We urge InvestHK to work with HKMA to develop more friendly open banking policies and strategies for fintech start-ups. Yijin Song and Suqi Liu, Kowloon Tong The case against online shopping Hongkongers often complain that the goods advertised online are different from those received by consumers, although online shops do post warnings that there could be variations in colour, for example. It is difficult to protect consumer rights in such situations with local legislation. Given that retailers may be located overseas , enforcing local laws or securing refunds is challenging . Moreover, people making payments online bear the risk of having their personal data stolen or credit card information misused. Some online shops don’t provide a high level of security for the personal information collected and are vulnerable to hacking. This information may be misused in serious internet crimes. Every year, the police report cases in which people have suffered huge financial losses as a result of deception related to online shopping. Furthermore, shopping is not only an economic activity but also involves the building of a relationship between shoppers and retailers, through which emotional needs for rapport and social connection can be satisfied. Online shopping deprives people of the opportunity to interact with others. Moreover, some goods or services related to traditional beliefs and value systems cannot be publicised through the internet, but should be treasured as our intangible heritage. Finally, online shops emphasise convenience but neglect their social responsibilities to the environment. Goods purchased online are transported in cartons and plastic bags, often using a huge amount of packaging to prevent product damage. Consumers throw away this packaging immediately, adding to the burden on our landfills. Meanwhile, online orders are often transported from faraway places via air or ship, contributing to global carbon emissions. Adrian Lam, Tai Koo
