At this year’s Hong Kong FinTech Week, Ryan Fung, deputy chief executive and chief of retail and digital strategy at Shanghai Commercial Bank (Shacom), shared his vision of banking built on three foundations: next-generation data and payment infrastructure, an artificial intelligence (AI)-centred service model and tokenisation of finance. He explained how these priorities are redefining customer experience and Hong Kong’s position as a digital-finance hub. A unified data ecosystem Fung describes Shacom’s approach as “integration rather than experimentation.” Instead of running isolated pilots, the bank has tied its digital transformation agenda to a single, data-driven framework built around Hong Kong’s Inter-Bank Account Data Sharing (IADS) platform and the Commercial Data Interchange (CDI). With customer consent, Shacom aggregates real-time cash-flow and balance data from multiple institutions and enriches it with company-registry, trade and credit information. “The result is a 360-degree view of every client’s financial profile,” he explained. “It cuts preparation time for credit proposals by roughly 60% and shortens approval cycles from weeks to within a day for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is how open banking becomes practical—not as an industry slogan but as a measurable gain in efficiency and customer value.” Turning cargo data into finance One of Shacom’s flagship innovations, the cargo data-enabled working capital solution developed with Visa and the Airport Authority Hong Kong, links freight movement data directly to financing decisions. “By combining real-time cargo data with commercial-card payment flows, we can extend buyers’ payment terms while helping sellers collect in as few as three days,” Fung said. “That means more predictable cash flow for SMEs and lower systemic liquidity risk for the industry.” This initiative is part of a broader push to transform trade documentation into verifiable, machine-readable credit signals. Using the Shenzhen–Hong Kong Cross-Boundary Data Validation platform, blockchain hash values now certify credit reports without moving the underlying documents, cutting authentication time to minutes. Fung noted that Hong Kong’s forthcoming Port Community System, due in 2026, will extend the concept by linking Bills of Lading to automated credit-limit adjustments. “Trade finance will become continuous rather than transactional,” he predicted. Bringing AI to the relationship front line Fung sees AI not as a back-office tool but as the interface between customers and the bank. Through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)’s second Gen-AI sandbox, Shacom is equipping every relationship manager with an AI Knowledge Hub that merges client histories, market intelligence and real-time recommendations. “Our goal is to give clients 24/7 relationship coverage that feels genuinely personal,” he said. The system analyses interaction data and on-chain activity to surface insights automatically, improving both service speed and sales productivity. Next, Shacom plans to add a predictive-financing simulator and an automated compliance engine. The simulator will allow relationship managers to assess “what-if” scenarios for clients’ cash flows, while the compliance engine will flag know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) risks in real time. Fung called this as the shift from “always on” to “always anticipating.” Tokenisation meets traditional finance Shacom has also partnered with HashKey Exchange to launch one of Asia’s first co-branded Visa cards bridging fiat and digital assets. Customers can spend across both worlds and earn dual rewards. “It shows that digital-asset infrastructure and traditional finance can reinforce each other, not compete,” Fung said. The partnership is a stepping stone toward tokenised investment products, including trade-finance receivables and infrastructure projects—assets that could provide SMEs with new collateral options and investors with transparent, fractional access to real-world returns. Using alternative data for instant lending Looking ahead, Fung expects the coverage of alternative data to grow well beyond bank balances and Bills of Lading. Shacom is studying how to incorporate customs declarations, IoT sensor feeds, satellite-derived port data, and e-invoice information from Hong Kong’s e-Tax platform. “If you can see an SME’s inventory and receivables in near real time, you can cut working-capital cycles to under 24 hours,” he said. The bank is also developing a data-matching engine that cross-references IADS and CDI inputs with the HKMA’s catalogue of SME subsidy schemes. The system will automatically alert new clients to funds such as the SME Export Marketing Fund or the Innovation and Technology Fund, linking them directly to growth capital. Building the next stage of fintech maturity Fung’s message at FinTech Week reflects a broader theme across Hong Kong’s financial sector: the city’s strength lies in connecting regulated innovation with cross-border commerce. “Hong Kong’s advantage is its role as a super-connector,” he concluded. “If we integrate predictive and agentic AI, richer alternative data and regulated digital-asset capabilities into one platform, we turn that advantage into real-time value for every client.” Shacom’s model, built on measurable outcomes with shorter approval times, faster settlements and transparent data flows, offers a preview of how regional banks can compete in a digital-asset era without abandoning prudence. For Fung, the task now is clear: move from experimentation to execution.
