The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched a new feature for its fintech sandbox, the supervisory chatroom.

The chatroom seeks to provide supervisory feedback to authorized institutions (AIs) and technology firms at an early stage when new technology applications are being contemplated. The hope is the dialogue will help to reduce abortive work and expedite the rollout of new technology applications the regulator said.

Firms may access the chatroom through emails, video conferences or face-to-face meetings with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The AI's will have access to both the fintech facilitation office and the banking departments of the HKMA through the chatroom.

The participating firms may also request for a video conference or face-to-face meeting with the HKMA to obtain supervisory feedback to their fintech proposals. The HKMA will keep the arrangements under regular review and will refine the operation of the Chatroom in the light of feedback received from users of the facility.