First government blockchain finance trade platform to launch in Hong Kong

Hong Kong will see the first government-backed, blockchain-powered financial trade platform that will link up with 21 banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered.

The blockchain trading system – designed by China’s Ping An Group – is expected to be one of the first and largest government-led projects aimed at improving the $9-trillion (£6.8 trillion) global trade finance sector.

“Instead of individual banks trying to do this you have the regulator trying to bring the banks together,” said Ping An Group Deputy CEO Jessica Tan.

The new platform will solve many issues, including the fact that many small firms around the globe are denied banking services due to the increasing cost of due diligence in signing up new clients.

Ping An Group’s OneConnect’s technologies reduce the cost of extracting a wide range of company data, allowing the new platform to expand services to those smaller companies and help them gain more access to supply-chain finance and trade.

The platform will also make it easier to detect fraud (some companies request more financing than they require) and reduce transactions times from a fortnight to just 24 hours.