Bank Culture

While considerable efforts have been made globally by banking supervisors and senior management of banks in enhancing governance and risk management framework in recent years, it is increasingly recognised that much more needs to be done to promote a sound culture at all levels of banks.

In March 2017, the HKMA initiated a bank culture reform through promoting the adoption of a holistic and effective framework for fostering a sound culture within banks, with particular attention given to three pillars, namely governance, incentive systems, and assessment and feedback mechanisms.

The reform seeks to encourage banks to develop and promote a sound corporate culture that supports prudent risk management and contributes towards incentivising proper staff behaviour that will lead to positive customer outcomes and high ethical standards in the banking industry, so that banks put their safety and soundness as well as the interests of depositors and customers at the centre stage in the pursuit of commercial interests.

Following the HKMA’s launch of the bank culture reform in 2017, the HKMA announced in December 2018 supervisory measures for bank culture (namely, self-assessment, focused reviews and culture dialogues) to gauge the progress of bank culture reform in Hong Kong.

The Mandatory Reference Checking (MRC) Scheme is an important component of the HKMA’s ongoing effort in promoting sound bank culture. The HKMA endorses the MRC Scheme, an industry-led initiative which seeks to address the “rolling bad apples” phenomenon in the banking sector (i.e. situations where individuals who engage in misconduct during their employment in one institution are able to obtain subsequent employment in another institution without disclosing their misconduct to the new employer).

If you want to learn more about the MRC Scheme, you may refer to the Mandatory Reference Checking Scheme - Frequently Asked Questions for In-Scope Individuals developed by the industry associations in consultation with the HKMA.

Related Information

Circular(s)

Speech(es)

Other Topics about Banking Conduct and Enforcement

View All Topics

Last revision date : 22 August 2025