Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Hui Ching-yu stated in response to questions from Hong Kong Legislative Council members that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will continue to collaborate with the People's Bank of China (PBOC) to advance the cross-border pilot program of digital renminbi in Hong Kong. This includes facilitating more local Hong Kong retail merchants to accept digital renminbi and exploring additional application scenarios to expand the pilot coverage of digital renminbi.

Furthermore, the PBOC and HKMA are currently exploring arrangements and feasibility for digital currency wallet upgrades to increase usage limits for digital currency wallets and support more application scenarios. Related discussions are still ongoing, with specific implementation plans and timelines yet to be finalized.

Hui Ching-yu indicated that the HKMA maintains close communication with the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China and subsidiary banks of mainland Chinese operating institutions in Hong Kong to understand digital currency wallet usage and user feedback, while encouraging banks to promote greater acceptance of digital renminbi among local Hong Kong retail merchants. It is understood that the number of local Hong Kong retail outlets accepting digital renminbi is gradually increasing.

Hui Ching-yu also noted that since the "Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency Cross-border Network" (mBridge) project entered the "Minimum Viable Product" stage in June last year, the team will continue to optimize and enhance platform functionality. This includes supporting participating commercial banks' integration with mBridge's application programming interface systems to improve transaction efficiency and enhance corporate customer experience. Simultaneously, the team will gradually expand participation from public and private sector institutions to provide more efficient and convenient service options for cross-border payments.