Nearly 2 in 5 Hong Kongers open to sharing banking data with third parties

Almost 40% believe that open banking can provide them with better customer service.

More consumers (38%) in Hong Kong have expressed willingness to allow their respective banks to share their personal data with another company, outnumbering a third of the population (33%) that still reject the idea, according to a survey by IT firm Unisys.

A third of the population still remain undecided about providing data access for better customer service whilst those who are against the idea completely base it on data privacy concerns.

The security of the other company (53%) that will handle the banking data of the user remains a pressing issue followed by concerns about the security of the bank (50%) itself.

“For Open Banking to really take off in Asia, banks must address customer concerns about how they protect their customer data – not just in the bank, but across all of the departments, partners and agencies in the value chain,” said Unisys Asia Pacific vice president for financial services Richard Parker.

The survey also revealed that 60% of Hong Kongers are comfortable with their bank employing software and algorithms to assess online credit card applications. However, they are more hesitant to allow the same level of access for home loans (31%) which may be due to larger amounts of money involved as well as emotional investment.