AI in banking takes centre stage as Hang Seng, HKSTP launch second ‘Living Lab’ cohort

The programme will test AI use cases across retail and commercial banking environments.

Hang Seng Bank and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) launched the second cohort of their “Living Lab” programme to support artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in Hong Kong’s financial services sector, the companies announced in a joint press statement.

The initiative, themed “Bank of the Future,” will provide technology ventures from HKSTP’s ecosystem with live operating environments to test and refine solutions with Hang Seng to assess the business potential of these technologies.

The second cohort will focus on practical applications in retail and commercial banking.

In retail banking, the programme will explore an AI-driven validation agent designed to verify and govern outputs of generative AI chatbots to improve response accuracy and consistency.

In commercial banking, it will focus on developing a customer service voicebot for Business Banking Centres, using multilingual speech recognition and natural language processing to handle customer enquiries.

Applications for the programme will open on 14 April with shortlisted candidates to be invited to pitch, with results to be announced in the second half of the year.

Eric Or, chief ecosystem development officer at HKSTP, said the collaboration aligns with Hong Kong’s Budget Speech 2026, which outlines support for innovation and technology development and AI application.

“This collaboration enables tech companies to test and refine their innovations in real operations, narrowing the gap between research and practice,” Or said.

“The success of the first cohort demonstrates the synergetic potential of bridging corporate insights with the local I&T ecosystem,” he added.

Forrest Chai, chief information officer at Hang Seng, said the programme is intended to accelerate ideas into deployable solutions.

“Deploying AI at scale is no longer optional if we are serious about building the Bank of the Future,” Chai said.

“We are aiming to identify high-impact AI capabilities that can be tested, industrialised, and scaled across the bank,” he added.

Rannie Lee, head of retail banking and wealth at Hang Seng, said the bank will work with HKSTP and technology partners to develop AI solutions that integrate retail banking and wealth services.

Regina Lee, head of commercial banking at Hang Seng, said the collaboration will explore how AI can support customer service in live Business Banking Centre environments.

The “Living Lab” programme was introduced in June 2022. The first cohort concluded in July 2024, with more than 50 companies participating. The selected solution, an intelligent reception system, was piloted at Hang Seng’s Tsim Sha Tsui branch.