Hong Kong’s financial regulators have announced plans to harmonize the city’s over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives reporting regime, including crypto derivatives, with international standards. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have released a joint consultation conclusion outlining changes that will bring the city’s regulations in line with European and global practices.
The new rules, which come into effect on September 29, 2025, will mandate the use of Unique Transaction Identifiers (UTI), Unique Product Identifiers (UPI) and Critical Data Elements (CDE) for OTC derivatives reporting. These changes are intended to facilitate the international standardization and harmonization of data elements reported in the global reporting regimes for OTC derivatives.
Regulators have particularly addressed the emerging area of digital asset derivatives. As the HKMA and SFC reported:
“Given that the Digital Token Identifier (DTI) has been proposed as an allowable reportable value in the upcoming consultation of version 4 of the CDE Technical Guidance, we will include the use of DTI in our reporting requirements.”
The move brings Hong Kong in line with European efforts to standardize the identification of digital assets in financial reporting.
The regulators have also streamlined the number of mandatory data fields to be “within the range of those in the EU, US and other APAC jurisdictions”, striking a balance between comprehensive reporting and operational efficiency for market participants.
In addition, Hong Kong will adopt the ISO 20022 XML messaging standard for OTC derivatives reporting, a move that has received widespread support from industry stakeholders. This approval will ensure consistency with global reporting practices and facilitate cross-border data sharing and analysis.
These changes represent a notable step in Hong Kong’s efforts to maintain its status as a leading international financial center while aligning regulations with major cryptocurrency and digital asset derivatives markets.
