Course outline

This course has three key objectives:

1.    To introduce students to the ethical and legal implications of digitalisation of health and related aspects of law, primarily from a policy and regulatory standpoint. Health is referred to generally as the subject matter for the study of digitalisation in a variety of health-related contexts, including healthcare (e.g. electronic health records and use of sensors to monitor medical adherence), biomedical research (e.g. use of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug development and medical research), health funding and insurance (e.g. use of Big Data analytics in claim and loss predictions) and public / global health (e.g. use of digital technologies to support realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals);

2.    To introduce students to Computational Law as it applies to the digitalisation of health (as outlined in Objective (1) above). The subject matter will focus on a number of computational models of legal reasoning (and related legal applications that have been developed), and will examine how modern legal expert systems are likely to change in response to the digitalisation of healthcare; and

3.    To introduce students to data visualisation (in both health and law) and means of thinking critically about an increasingly data-driven world (with focus on potential sources of misinformation and disinformation).

Digitalisation refers to the added value of applying digital technologies (such as Big Data analytics, AI and robotics) to interventions directed at meeting needs or goals that relate to health, administration of justice and regulatory compliance. The course adopts a Policy approach in that different epistemic systems of ethical, legal/regulatory and governance principles (e.g. human-centricity) that guide decisions to achieve health and legal outcomes will be examined. The ethical and legal implications of digitalisation policies in both subjective and objective decision-making will be considered.

The jurisprudential basis of the right to information, freedom of expression (as pertinent to health), privacy, as well as concerns with misinformation and disinformation will be studied. The course will also cover the role of national laws, international law, and instruments touching on digitalisation concerns in health and related aspects of legal practice and regulation. Of these laws and normative instruments, this course will focus on those that pertain to data security, collection, sharing and use, control (e.g. through intellectual property) as well as those that apply to data custodians and intermediaries (including cloud platforms). Additionally, the normative impact of social organisations (including business entities) on digitalisation and regulatory trends will be considered. 

Use of Artificial intelligence (“AI”)

AI is an important aspect to the subject being taught.  Understanding how it operates is important to understanding how it is and will be used and regulated in the future.  

The use of AI is permitted in students’ research as an enhanced learning and research tool only. It is not a substitute for appropriate references and its use must be proportionate and supervised.  AI must not be over-used (as explained in the University guidelines) and must not offend the usual academic responsibilities of a student.

Lecturer contact

The best time to see the lecturer is during breaks in class or immediately after each class or by appointment. The lecturer may be contacted via email at peter@cashinhk.com

Course materials

Lecture slides will be made available on Moodle after each class.

Recommended Reading

Primary sources:

Code of Professional Conduct for the Guidance of Registered Medical Practitioners

Electronic Health Record Sharing System Ordinance (Cap. 625)

Hospital Authority Ordinance (Cap. 113)

Medical Registration Ordinance (Cap. 161) 

Medical Clinics Ordinance (Cap. 343)

Private Healthcare Facilities Ordinance (Cap. 663)

Secondary reading:

Eric C. Ip “The Law and Regulation of Public Health, Global Perspectives on Hong Kong”, Routledge, 2023

James Shing Chiu, Albert Lee, Kar-wai Tong “Healthcare Law and Ethics: Principles and Practices”, City University of Hong Kong Press, 2023

Jack Wong, Raymond Tong “Medical Regulatory Affairs: An International Handbook for Medical Devices and Healthcare Products”, 3ed, Jenny Stanford Publishing, 2022

Eric Topal “Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again”, Basic Books, 2019

Abraham Wai, David Wong, Gavin Joynt, Rita Cheung “Medical Law and Ethics in Hong Kong”, Sweet & Maxwell Hong Kong, 2016

David Sau-yan Wong “Legal Issues for the Medical Practitioner”, Hong Kong University Press, 2010 

Additional readings: 

Will be given during lectures

Websites

·     Health Bureau of Hong Kong https://www.healthbureau.gov.hk

·     Department of Health Hong Kong https://www.dh.gov.hk

·     Hospital Authority https://www.ha.org.hk

·     Office for Regulation of Private Healthcare Facilities https://www.orphf.gov.hk

·     Electronic Health Record Sharing System https://www.ehealth.gov.hk

·     HK ordinances https://www.elegislation.gov.hk

·     Insurance Authority https://www.ia.org.hk/en/index.html

Course outline

The course will appraise the impact of financial and information technologies on banking and other financial services providers, as it closely follows the legal and regulatory developments in equity and debt finances in Hong Kong and globally leading FinTech hubs.

The course will focus on financial technology (FinTech) and regulatory technology (RegTech), used increasingly by financial institutions and their regulators to enhance regulatory compliance in and supervision of a sophisticated and fast-changing financial sector. A major part of the course syllabus will involve the systematic analysis of the emerging opportunities brought about by open banking for both traditional and challenger banks, virtual banks and their business model(s) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Open API Framework for the Hong Kong Banking Sector. To that end, the course will also highlight the challenges faced by banking institutions, including traditional banks and virtual banks, in complying with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, the key data protection law in Hong Kong. In this regard, the thematic focuses will be on (1) data protection law in the digital banking era, in general; and (2) data governance (including data security) in the implementation of open banking, in particular.

Other special focuses of the course include equity and debt-based crowdfunding, denoting a tripartite relationship among the crowdfunding platform (CFP) operator, the fundraiser (i.e. the company that raises funds through the CFP) and the investors (crowdfunders).

Behavioural economics postulates that not all investors are rational, including both unsophisticated individual investors and sophisticated institutional investors (such as mutual funds, pension funds and insurance companies). Regulation may thus be used to impose on the issuer (i.e. the company that raises funds by issuing securities) a duty to disclose information about its business plan and finance forecast with a view to curbing the lemon problem. Likewise, investors must prove their financial eligibility to be allowed to invest in equity crowdfunding. In general, the securities sector is characterised by consumer protection and an investor-disclosure system.

The course will shed light on the legal and regulatory requirements, along with supervisory and policy measures, towards FinTech alternative finance at both local and international levels. Requirements, measures and standards set by international regulatory bodies such as the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, the G20, the OECD, theFinancial Stability Board and the Bank for International Settlements will be closely examined. Combining supervisory approaches—for instance, the principle-based approach and the cost-benefit approach—with academic approaches, the course will promote and enable technical, theoretical, comparative, and interdisciplinary studies for students who are interested in or preparing to enter a FinTech-related career. The course is also practical and industry focused, reflecting on and closely following industry reports such as KPMG’s annual banking and anti-money laundering reports, along with Deloitte’s RegTech and FinTech survey reports. Designed to enhance creativity, critical thinking and deep learning, the course will foster an intimate understanding of regulations and policies on FinTech, RegTech and SupTech. Topics and issues covered in this course are diverse and wide-ranging and will include financial inclusion and digital financial inclusion, the digital banking model (implemented by virtual banks, which are also known as digital banks), FinTech and RegTech (with subordinated themes such as Sandbox, Open Banking, Application Programming Interface and Wealth Management Technology), P2P Lending, Equity Crowdfunding, Payments and Payment Technology (including Central Bank Digital Currency and Stablecoins).

The course will first introduce FinTech innovations such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, robo adviser solution and big data, all of which are exemplary of information technology, followed by an exploration of the types of FinTech-enabled products and payment services such as crowdfunding and P2P lending, and ending with a forward looking approach in tackling some critical and timely issues related to FinTech, including, but not limited to, financial democratisation, improving access to financial system, sharing economy, data governance and control and privacy protection for consumers.

Use of Artificial intelligence (“AI”)

AI is an important aspect to the subject being taught.  Understanding how it operates is important to understanding how it is and will be used and regulated in the future.  

The use of AI is permitted in students’ research as an enhanced learning and research tool only. It is not a substitute for appropriate references and its use must be proportionate and supervised.  AI must not be over-used (as explained in the University guidelines) and must not offend the usual academic responsibilities of a student.

Lecturer contact

The best time to see the lecturer is during breaks in class or immediately after each class or by appointment. The lecturer may be contacted via email at peter@cashinhk.com

Course materials

Lecture slides will be made available on Moodle after each class. 

Recommended Reading

Primary sources:

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615)

Banking Ordinance (Cap. 155)

Hong Kong Association of Banks Code of Banking Practice

Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41)

Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485)

Payment Systems and Stored Value Facilities Ordinance (Cap. 584)

Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571)

Secondary reading:

Ronit Ghose “Future Money: From Fintech to Web 3”, Kogan Page, 2024

Kevin Lee “Butterworths Hong Kong Banking Law Handbook”, 6ed, Butterworths, 2023

Bernard Mak, Brian Lo, Candice Lau, Ernest C Y Ng, Jason Gerber, Lok Ho, Mike Yeung Vincent Lung “Butterworths Hong Kong Securities Law Handbook”, 7ed, Butterworths, 2022

Additional readings:

Will be given during lectures

Websites

·     Hong Kong Monetary Authority https://www.hkma.gov.hk

·     Hong Kong Association of Banks https://www.hkab.org.hk/en

·     HK ordinances https://www.elegislation.gov.hk

·     Insurance Authority https://www.ia.org.hk/en/index.html

·     Mandatory Provident Funding Schemes Authority https://www.mpfa.org.hk/en

·     Securities and Futures Commission https://www.sfc.hk/en/