The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the territory’s financial regulator, has announced a series of initiatives for retail payments including a study into NFC-based mobile payments.

The HKMA says it is looking at a number of initiatives for the retail sector including a study into possible future electronic payment instruments including interoperable NFC mobile payment infrastructure as well as an e-cheque system.  

In contrast, Singapore is an early adopter of NFC having put together a consortium last year to build NFC infrastructure. Its first commercial services have just launched. 

The deputy chief executive of the HKMA, Peter Pang, said the NFC study was the second part of a three-pronged strategy. The first was the transformation of paper-based payments into electronic formats, and the third part was a revision to the current legal framework to ensure the safety and efficiency of the relevant stored value facilities and retail payment systems.