HKMA Launches IADS Developer Hackathon to Drive Banking Innovation and Secure Data Sharing

HKMA and HKSTP launch IADS Developer Hackathon to foster bank-fintech collaboration

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), in collaboration with the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), announced the launch of the IADS Developer Hackathon and held the Kick-off Ceremony today (October 2), marking the beginning of a multi-month innovation journey to foster innovation for the Interbank Account Data Sharing (IADS) initiative, and transform banking services through secure, customer-consented data sharing.

The IADS Developer Hackathon, organised by the HKSTP, runs from October 2025 to March 2026. It brings together the banking industry and fintech firms from around the world to collaborate and create innovative, secure, customer-consented solutions, leveraging the IADS to drive digital transformation in Hong Kong's banking sector. Participants will develop innovative use cases for retail, corporate and small and medium-sized enterprises customer segments, with mentorship provided by banking professionals. Finalists will be invited to showcase their solutions at the IADS Developer Conference in March 2026, and winning teams may also have the opportunity to access business expansion support, investor engagement platforms, brand exposure, and future pitching opportunities through HKSTP, and other partner organisations, to promote the market and development of their solutions.

The IADS initiative is formulated by the HKMA and launched with the support of the banking industry. The IADS initiative has established rules and standards that facilitate interbank customer-consented data sharing. This enables customers to securely and efficiently share their bank account data from one participating bank to other participating banks, subject to customer consent. Account data sharing can help digitalise banking operations, strengthen risk management of banks, and enhance customer experience.

According to Executive Director (Financial Infrastructure) of the HKMA, Mr Nelson Chow,"The IADS Developer Hackathon represents an exciting opportunity for the financial and technology sectors to converge and drive innovation in IADS. We look forward to this event uncovering novel solutions that will benefit both the industry and the community."

Acting Chief Corporate Development Officer of the HKSTP,Mr Eric Or,said, "The IADS Developer Hackathon embodies the spirit of innovation and collaboration that HKSTP strives to foster. It will help catalyse innovation, providing valuable opportunities for startups to exchange and collaborate with the industry, and propelling Hong Kong's position as a hub for financial technology and innovation."

For more information about the IADS initiative, please visit the HKMA website.

HKMA and HKSTP launch IADS Developer Hackathon to foster bank-fintech collaboration Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

HKMA and HKSTP launch IADS Developer Hackathon to foster bank-fintech collaboration Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

HKMA and HKSTP launch IADS Developer Hackathon to foster bank-fintech collaboration Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Source: AI-found images

Hong Kong rises to world's fifth-largest trading entity in merchandise trade

According to the report "Global Trade Outlook and Statistics" published by World Trade Organization (WTO), Hong Kong ranked as the world's fifth-largest trading entity in merchandise trade in 2025, two places up from 2024. The total merchandise trade recorded a year-on-year increase of 17.5 per cent to US$1,585 billion, accounting for 3 per cent of the world's total.

The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, said today (April 2), "The WTO report fully demonstrated that despite the challenges brought about by geopolitics and trade protectionism in the past year, Hong Kong's external trade remained resilient and achieved an encouraging result, making the city the world's fifth-largest trading entity in merchandise trade after the Chinese Mainland, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. If the European Union is taken as a single trading entity, Hong Kong ranks fourth."

Mr Yau noted that Hong Kong has long adopted free trade and firmly supports and has upheld the rules-based multilateral trading system to provide trading partners with a predictable and transparent market. In addition, leveraging the institutional advantages under the "one country, two systems" framework and the highly internationalised business environment, Hong Kong has become the most important and agile gateway for business and trade in the region.

"The report also showed that a series of measures carried out by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government(HKSARG) for promoting trade, including expanding economic and trade networks, stepping up efforts in attracting enterprises and investment, deepening ties with international markets, exploring emerging markets, enhancing support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and promoting Hong Kong's participation in the Belt and Road initiative and opening up the Mainland market, have achieved fruitful results, enabling Hong Kong to continue to play a pivotal role in international trade," Mr Yau added.

He said, "This year marks the beginning of the country's 15th Five-Year Plan and the HKSARG is also formulating Hong Kong's five-year plan to actively align with it. The 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly supports Hong Kong in better integrating into and serving the overall national development to further consolidate and enhance Hong Kong's status as an international trade centre, leveraging its unique advantages of being backed by the motherland and connected to the world. The HKSARG will continue to promote trade and focus on further assisting Mainland enterprises in going global through Hong Kong as a platform to explore new areas of economic growth in addition to strengthening the aforesaid measures, with a view to fulfilling our roles as a 'super connector' and a 'super value-adder'."

Riding on the good performance last year, merchandise exports continued to show strong performance in early 2026. In February 2026, the values of Hong Kong's total exports and imports of goods both recorded year-on-year increases, at 24.7 per cent and 29.9 per cent respectively. Taking January and February of 2026 together, the value of total exports of goods increased by 29.6 per cent over the same period in 2025. Concurrently, the value of imports of goods increased by 34.1 per cent.

According to the WTO report, Hong Kong ranked as the world's fifth-largest trading entity in merchandise trade in 2025. Hong Kong was the world's fifth-largest exporter and the sixth-largest importer of goods (both were three places up from 2024).

Globally, the world's top 10 merchandise traders in 2025 were basically the same as those in 2024. While the top four traders, namely the Chinese Mainland, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, remained unchanged in ranking, Hong Kong moved two places up to the fifth position, followed by the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy and Mexico.

For commercial service trading, Hong Kong was the world's 22nd-largest commercial service trading entity in 2025. It was the world's 23rd-largest commercial services exporter and the 25th importer (both remained the same ranking as that in 2024). Hong Kong's total trade in commercial services amounted to US$211 billion in 2025, accounting for 1.2 per cent of the world's total and representing a 6.6 per cent increase from 2024.

The "Global Trade Outlook and Statistics" report is available at www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/gots_e.htm.

Photo source: wto.org