Fintech leaders aim to bust criminal exploitation of regulatory void

Facial recognition technology is likely to be among innovations on the agenda when bankers, financial regulators and officials from across Asia gather in Hong Kong on Wednesday for a landmark summit. The high-powered meeting comes as the race to regulate the fintech (financial technology) revolution is intensifying amid fears that a regulatory "vacuum" could be exploited by money launderers, fraudsters and underground bankers whose activities threaten national, regional and international financial stability. Organisers of the summit to launch the Alliance for Financial Stability with Information Technology, also known as AFS-IT, say speakers and guests will include top-level representation across the banking, financial, technology and regulatory sectors as well as government officials from China, Hong Kong, Macau, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Singapore. A key focus will be the fostering of innovation in regulation technology, or regtech, a new field in which information technology is used to enhance regulation. Innovative fintech can be used and adapted to benefit both service providers and regulators, and it includes know-your-customer facial recognition technology recently installed across the ATM network of casino hub Macau as part of an ongoing crackdown on money laundering and capital flight from China.