The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has launched the SAGE project to promote the responsible development and application of agentic finance in Hong Kong, and has also formed an expert group on the topic.
SAGE stands for Securing Agentic Finance with Governance and Enablement. The HKMA said the name reflects an approach that combines governance and enablement to build secure and reliable agentic finance. Members of the expert group come from financial institutions, technology service providers, professional services firms and academia.
Four focus areas under the SAGE project
The HKMA said the project will concentrate on four areas.
- Market development and use-case exploration, including agentic shopping and day-to-day payments in business-to-consumer (B2C) settings, procurement and treasury management in business-to-business (B2B) settings, and machine-to-machine (M2M) payments for digital service fees charged on a usage basis.
- Exploring ways to verify the identity of AI agents and their authorization rights, including Know-Your-Agent (KYA) and authentication mechanisms.
- Advancing discussions on interoperability standards and protocols.
- Exchanging views on legal and regulatory issues, including governance arrangements, legal liability and consumer protection.
HKMA chief executive comments
HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said agentic finance has the potential to reshape how financial services are provided and used. The HKMA said it hopes that through these measures and exchanges with industry experts, it can promote innovation, strengthen Hong Kong’s position in next-generation financial technology, and ensure that agentic finance serves users’ interests while maintaining financial system stability.
