HKMA Advances Ensemble to 24/7 Real-Value Settlement and Launches Agentic Finance Governance Project
Key points
- Ensemble TX has moved to a new stage enabling 24/7 real-value tokenised transactions, with Recognised Dealers already completing trial trades in secondary market and repo transactions of tokenised Exchange Fund Bills.
- The HKMA will soon expand Ensemble trials to include regulated stablecoins, marking a material broadening of the assets in scope.
- Project SAGE, backed by a cross-sectoral Agentic Finance Expert Group and an accompanying discussion paper, formalises the HKMA's supervisory framework for agentic AI in banking.
- The PQC Toolkit, developed with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, gives banks a structured, practical framework for transitioning to post-quantum cryptography standards.
- The Faster Payment System will connect with UnionPay International by end-2026, extending QR-code payment reach to over 100 million merchants across Hong Kong, mainland China, and more than 40 international markets.
At Hong Kong FinTech Week 2026, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced a cluster of initiatives spanning tokenisation, artificial intelligence governance, post-quantum cryptography, and cross-border payments. The event, co-organised with Invest Hong Kong and now in its eleventh year, served as the delivery platform for the HKMA’s “DART” framework, which covers data and payment, AI, resilience, and tokenisation under its overarching “Fintech 2030” strategy.
The most operationally concrete development in tokenisation is the advancement of Ensemble TX to support 24/7 real-value transactions. The HKMA also confirmed that Recognised Dealers have completed trial trades in secondary market transactions of tokenised Exchange Fund Bills, targeting efficiency gains in secondary and repo trading. Regulated stablecoins are flagged as the next expansion of those trials. Separately, the HKMA and Cyberport jointly launched tConnect Launchpad, a forum designed to bring financial institutions, technology firms, and digital asset companies together to validate use cases and accelerate broader adoption.
On AI governance, the HKMA launched Project SAGE, short for Securing Agentic Finance with Governance and Enablement, and established a cross-sectoral expert group to sit alongside it. A discussion paper seeking industry feedback on supervisory considerations for agentic AI in banks was published concurrently. On cryptographic resilience, the HKMA and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, with industry support, released a Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Toolkit providing a structured framework to guide banks through the transition. Cross-border payments also featured, with the Faster Payment System (FPS) set to link with UnionPay International by end of 2026, eventually covering over 100 million merchants across Hong Kong, mainland China, and more than 40 overseas markets.