疫情這面照妖鏡終於在銀行界發功了 The demon-spotting mirror of the epidemic finally works in the banking sector
香港匯豐及恆生銀行今天推出「手機入票服務」的寓意 The implications of HSBC and Hang Seng Bank launched “Mobile Cheque Deposit Service” in Hong Kong today
香港新冠疫情第五波至今已經奪走超過五千長者的生命。平均死亡人數遠超其他先進城市的理由無它，這與院社的老人家疫苗接種未過半有關。其實疫情在第五波來襲前香港起碼有半年日子沒有本地案例發生，奈何香港政府沒有處安思危，錯過利用這段好日子以有形之手提高目標群之接種率。比如新加坡雖然沒有強逼群眾必須接種疫苗，但卻立法規定在沒有足夠理據的情況下沒有接種疫苗就不能享受政府醫院的服務。強政勵治下的「谷針」方法非常見效。而喜歡拖拖拉拉，議而不決的香港卻把疫情下的死亡率推到世界第一。
疫情這面雪亮的照妖鏡不單把香港政府多年在公共管理範圍積累的問題完全展露給公眾，它更把香港這個所謂世界金融中心的運作必須依賴人手這事實也由特首嘴巴裡和盤托出。 香港不能馬上禁足，原來需要考慮金融系統能否有效運作。 內地遇上新一輪疫情，一聲令下就可以馬上實現人口比香港多上差不多一倍的深圳實行七天禁足。 要知道深圳也有股票交易所，也有比如騰訊、招商、平安等服務全國甚至全球的超大型金融服務機構以此設立其總部。香港做不到禁足檢疫的理由其實無它，政府及核心企業仍然大量依賴20甚至30年前的基礎建設及運營方式。
衛生處無法在合理時段內發出居家隔離令及各個隔離設施經常發生延誤人員進出事件的原因相信並不是前線人員並沒有邁力，而是背後使用的信息科技系統及運營方式已經十分老舊。最令人無法接受的事實，就是政府不同部門之間的通訊仍然大量依賴傳真機而不是已經被使用多年的辦公自動化 (OA)系統 。 信息怎能不亂？動作怎會快？決定怎會狠？估計怎會準？
過去的幾個月，由於銀行員工染疫人數不斷上升。加上本港的零售銀行業務仍然大量依賴傳統方式運作。當中遇上最大壓力正是支票清算系統。銀行分行因為疫情未能營業，存入支票理應可以使用ATM吧。可惜香港各大小銀行在疫情嚴重期間未能提供足夠人手去收取、掃描、處理支票及遞交相關到清算中心。大家可能有疑問，處理這些支票的流程不是已經自動化嗎？ 其實不然。 支票是舊時代產物，某些處理仍需依賴人手。 你可知道在人手短缺、加上沒有前台員員參與的情況下，那會有足夠人手查閱支票內容是否妥當？哪會有足夠人手核對大額支票的簽名的真偽？
正如港府抗疫的多種手段並不到位一樣，金融管理局過去九年間已經先後推出「電子帳單」( e-Bill)、「電子支票」(e-Cheque) 、「轉數快」 (FPS) 及 「銀行業開放應用程式介面」（Open API）多個跟零售支付相關的平台。奈何這些「中央」服務並不「貼地」，這一系列的支付平台首兩個目前等同閒置，最新的一個仍然未能按原來時間表全面服務社會。 目前就只有 FPS 能在個人支付 (P2P) 層面能發揮其作用。而其商業支付 (B2C) 層面服務才剛剛能配合 Open API 提供的「手機應用程式至應用程式」（App-to-app）支付功能而有校運作。
在疫情及新系統種種負面因素下，銀行唯有引入早於十二年前在美加銀行清算服務上的手機入票服務以解燃眉之急。沒有錯，這種入票模式早已在美國、加拿大甚至英國存在多年。 香港只是眼高手低，當年並沒有直接採納西方的「半自動」模式或中國內地由中國銀聯甚至是第三方服務供應商如支付寶及微信支付的「全自動」模式，而推動了多個未能按市場需求而設計的中央清算及支付平台而造成匯豐及恆生今日才推出一個「老式」清算途徑的局面。
抗疫失效，生靈塗炭，是醫管局的錯嗎？ 是衛生局的錯？還是國泰航空和出席宴會眾官員的錯？ 香港支付系統多次未能發揮其應有效果，是金融管理局的錯？ 是銀行公會的錯？ 還是個別銀行的錯？ 歸究原因，其實是香港政府的權責分配多年來仍按舊時代的運作模式而分配，導致外在環境如新病毒或新技術的出現時候各部門間無法協調而失效。 英國當年按歐盟要求推動「開放銀行」 (Open Banking) 的 PSD2 法令其實並不是由跟香港金管局差不多對等的「金融行為管理局」(FCA) 而是「市場及競爭局」(CMA) 負責的。要提供先進的金融服務，除了有效監管及規避風險之外，還需要考慮客戶的要求及推動良性競爭。單從銀行角度做思考及設計的系統，哪會照顧到用戶甚至可配合其他相關政府部門所需？ 一個疫情，我們看到政府就好像一個神經系統麻痹的病人一樣。當大腦收到不同感覺器官斷斷續續甚至是矛盾的信息似乎，自然四肢不能協調，更會胡言亂語，甚至「朝令夕改」。
匯豐及恆生今天開始提供外國早而採納的手機入票服務一方面是逼不得已，另外一方面也應該得到金融管理局的首肯才能出台吧。 愚公一方面樂見政府在疫情嚴重影響民生的前提下從善如流，另外一方面卻擔心其他未能提供同樣服務的銀行是否會面對如客戶流失的壓力。 但願新一屆政府的領導班子裡面有真正懂得金融科技應用的隊員，推動金融管理局、其他監管機構、相關政府部門及業界之間環環相扣，把握幾個月後「數字人民幣」、「數碼港元」、支付類型的「穩定幣」規範化的新機遇，徹底擺脫傳統金融需要使用紙張及人手操作的各種流程。要維持香港金融中心的優越地位，我們必須先打好數字化基礎建設的基礎。否則香港的角色定必因為趕不上時代發展步伐而被替代！
The fifth wave of the new epidemic in Hong Kong has so far claimed the lives of more than 5,000 elderly people. The average number of deaths is much higher than other modern cities for no other reason than the fact that less than 50% of the elderly were vaccinated in the elderly nursing homes. In fact, there were no local cases in Hong Kong for at least six months before the fifth wave of the epidemic hit, but the Hong Kong government did not prepare for the danger and missed the opportunity to use this calmer period to proactively raise the vaccination rate of the target group. For example, although Singapore did not force the public to be vaccinated, it did legislate to exclude citizens from government hospital services if they did not have sufficient justification for not being vaccinated. The proactive approach under such a strong governance has been very effective. Hong Kong, however, which likes to procrastinate has pushed the mortality rate in the epidemic to the highest in the world.
The epidemic has not only revealed to the public the problems that the Hong Kong government has accumulated over the years in the area of public administration, it has also revealed by the Chief Executive about the fact that Hong Kong, the so-called world financial center, has to rely on manual processes. Hong Kong cannot be grounded simply because we have to consider whether the financial systems can operate effectively was the reason. In the event of a new round of epidemic in the Mainland, a seven-day grounding in Shenzhen, where the population is almost double that of Hong Kong, could be implemented as an immediate action. Do forget that Shenzhen which also has a stock exchange, and there are many mega financial services companies such as Tencent, China Merchants, Ping An, etc. that serve the whole country and even the world. Hong Kong can’t do a grounding solely because the government and core businesses still rely heavily on the infrastructure and operations that built 20 or even 30 years ago.
It is believed that the reason for the failure of the Health Department to issue home confinement orders within a reasonable period of time and the frequent delays in access to the various confinement facilities is not the lack of effort on the part of the frontline staff, but the very old information technology systems and methods of operation used behind the scenes. The most unacceptable fact is that communication between different government departments still relies heavily on fax machines rather than the Office Automation (OA) systems that have been in use for years. How can information not be confusing? How can action be fast? How can decisions be determined? How can estimates be accurate?
Over the past few months, the number of bank employees infected has been on the rise. In addition, retail banking in Hong Kong still relies heavily on traditional methods of operation. The biggest pressure is on the cheque clearing system. Bank branches were not open due to the epidemic, so it would have been better to use ATMs to deposit cheques. Unfortunately, banks in Hong Kong were unable to provide sufficient manpower to collect, scan, process and deliver cheques to clearing centers during the epidemic. You may wonder, isn’t the process of processing these cheques already automated? Actually, no. Cheques are a product of the old days and some of the processing is still manually dependent. Do you know if there are enough people to check the cheques for accuracy when there is a shortage of staff and no front desk staff involved, don’t you? How can there be enough people to check the authenticity of signatures on large amount cheques?
Just as the Hong Kong government’s multiple attempts to fight the epidemic are not functional, the Monetary Authority has launched a number of retail payment-related platforms in the past nine years, including e-Bill, e-Cheque, FPS and Open API. However, these “central” services are not popular. The first two payment platforms in this series are currently near idle, while the latest one is still not fully available to the community as scheduled. Only FPS can play a role at the personal payment (P2P) level. Its B2C service is just now becoming operational with the App-to-App payment function provided by Open API.
With all the negative factors of the epidemic and the new retail payment systems, banks had no choice but to introduce the mobile cheque deposit service that was introduced 12 years ago in the U.S. and Canada. I do mean that this kind of cheque deposit model has existed in the United States, Canada and even the United Kingdom for many years. Hong Kong was just too slow to adopt the Western “semi-automatic” model or the “fully automatic” model of China UnionPay or even third-party service providers such as Alipay and WeChat Pay in Mainland China, instead promoted a series of central clearing and payment platforms that were not designed according to market demand, resulting in HSBC and Hang Seng launching an “old-fashioned” clearing channel only today.
Is it the Hospital Authority’s fault that the fight against epidemic is failed with high death rates? Is it the fault of the Department of Health? Or is it the fault of Cathay Pacific and the officers who attended the banquet? Is it the fault of the Monetary Authority that Hong Kong’s payment system has failed to perform as it should? Is it the fault of the Hong Kong Association of Banks? Or is it the fault of individual banks? The reason is that the Hong Kong government’s distribution of powers and responsibilities has been based on the old mode of operation for many years, resulting in the failure of coordination among various departments when new viruses or new technologies emerged. The PSD2 legislation of the United Kingdom, which promotes “Open Banking” as required by the European Union, is actually not the responsibility of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is likely equivalent to the HKMA, but of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). In order to provide advanced financial services, apart from effective regulation and risk avoidance, it is also necessary to consider the requirements of customers and promote healthy competition. How can a system designed from the bank’s perspective alone cater to the needs of its end users or even other relevant government departments? In an epidemic, we see that the government is like a patient with neurological paralysis. When the brain receives intermittent and even contradictory information from different sensory organs, the limbs will not be able to coordinate, and it will talk nonsense and even issue contradictory “morning orders”.
HSBC and Hang Seng started to provide mobile cheque deposit service that foreign countries have long been adopted only today because they have no better choice, they should get the pre-approval of the Monetary Authority before introducing the service. While I am happy to see the government accepting good advice despite the serious impact of the epidemic on people’s livelihood, but on the other hand, I am worried whether other smaller banks that cannot provide the same service will face the pressure of losing customers. I do hope that the new government will be led by a team of experts who really understand the application of FinTech, so that the Monetary Authority and other regulators, as well as other relevant government departments and the industry, can work closely together to seize the new opportunities of eCNY, eHKD and regulatory of payment type Stablecoins in a few months’ time. And last but not least, deliver solid solutions to get rid of the processes that require paper and manual operation in traditional finance. To maintain Hong Kong’s position as a financial center, we must firstly lay the foundation of digital infrastructure. Otherwise, Hong Kong’s role is bound to be replaced because it cannot keep up with the pace of development!
