Hong Kong banks accelerate anti-fraud AI innovation with HKMA sandbox participation

PAObank and OneConnect join Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s second cohort of the GenA.I. Sandbox, deploying advanced AI solutions to combat deepfake fraud and strengthen risk management in banking services.

PAObank, a member of Ping An Insurance, and OneConnect, an associate company of Ping An, have been selected to join the second cohort of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenA.I.) Sandbox, an initiative conducted in partnership with the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited. Their collaborative project, the “Anti-Fraud Strategy Platform,” harnesses advanced AI technology to bolster the detection of deepfake-related fraud, enhance risk management, and support fraud investigations, ultimately aiming to improve customer protection.

Within the controlled environment of the HKMA’s GenA.I. Sandbox, PAObank and OneConnect will continue to refine the platform’s ability to identify and counteract deepfake technologies. The platform utilises AI-powered facial recognition to perform real-time verification of user selfies, distinguishing between authentic and synthetically generated images to detect potential fraud and strengthen the bank’s risk controls. Haibin Lin, Chief Technology Officer of PAObank, emphasised the broader industry impact by stating that the knowledge gained from this initiative will help combat deepfake fraud more effectively and promote the adoption of GenA.I. technologies across the banking sector.

Ping An Insurance, recognised for its substantial investments in AI research and development, supports innovation across various sectors of its business operations. The Group serves about 247 million individual clients and over 4 million corporate clients, leveraging vast data resources as the foundation of its AI-driven solutions. By June 2025, Ping An had accumulated over 3.2 trillion textual data points, 310,000 hours of annotated audio, and 7.5 billion images. In the first half of 2025 alone, the Group deployed large AI models in more than 650 business scenarios, resulting in significant improvements in service efficiency, cost control, and risk management. Key achievements attributed to these AI systems include underwriting 94% of life insurance policies within seconds, automating 80% of customer service enquiries, preventing property insurance fraud amounting to RMB 6.44 billion, and supporting sales worth RMB 66.16 billion through AI.

OneConnect, functioning as Ping An’s fintech platform, leverages over 30 years of the Group’s financial expertise and research capabilities. Its AI-powered anti-fraud solution incorporates more than 25 digital modules, including facial recognition, multi-country document verification, deepfake detection, and device risk assessment. This system aligns with the HKMA’s e-banking security framework and reportedly achieves a 99% success rate in combatting deepfake threats. By mid-2025, OneConnect had provided services to 214 enterprises spanning 21 countries and regions, establishing itself as a trusted partner for electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) and anti-fraud solutions for more than half of Hong Kong’s traditional retail banks.

The GenA.I. Sandbox initiative by the HKMA, launched with Cyberport, is designed to provide a risk-controlled platform where banks can develop and test innovative AI solutions aimed at enhancing risk management, fraud prevention, and customer experience. The first cohort, launched in late 2024, involved 15 use cases from 10 banks and four technology providers and focused on leveraging GenA.I.’s unique capabilities in processing vast amounts of unstructured data and cross-media inputs like text, audio, and images. The first trials commenced in early 2025 and enabled banks to explore solutions such as automated credit assessments, fraud detection, and advanced customer service.

Building on the success of the inaugural programme, the second cohort introduces the GenA.I. Sandbox Collaboratory, a platform featuring practical workshops that foster early collaboration between banks and technology providers. This new component highlights the HKMA’s commitment to facilitating responsible innovation in AI application within the financial sector. Participants in the second cohort will gradually onboard to Cyberport’s Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Centre platform later this year, with trial phases scheduled to begin in early 2026.

This continued investment and collaboration signal Hong Kong’s growing focus on integrating advanced AI technologies in finance, addressing emerging challenges such as deepfake fraud, and enhancing the overall resilience and efficiency of banking services. The involvement of prominent players like PAObank and OneConnect in this sandbox environment reflects the financial sector’s proactive approach to adopting cutting-edge AI solutions while maintaining rigorous regulatory oversight.

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Source: Noah Wire Services