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Scaling Up Hong Kong’s Fintech Future

Hing Kong’s Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury noted that as a leading international financial hub in Asia, Hong Kong is an ideal place for the development of fintech business. Fintech companies enjoy tremendous access to potential clients, investors and business partners in Hong Kong, where many financial institutions and multinational companies have set up their Asia regional headquarters or their biggest business presence in Asia.

The Director-General of Investment Promotion at InvestHK stated that the essence of Hong Kong Fintech Week is one of collaboration: the government’s Hong Kong Inc and the private sector will work together to showcase the vibrant fintech ecosystem here, and its relevance to Asia and the world, putting forward the case for fintech enterprises to fast-track their success in the city. Collectively, we will enable a unified vision of a bigger and better fintech future.

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) recently announced that Hong Kong Fintech Week 2021, themed “Scaling Fintech Future Together”, will be held in hybrid form, comprising both physical and virtual formats, from 1 November to 5 November 2021. This edition of Fintech Week was organised by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and InvestHK, and co-organised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Insurance Authority (IA).

The event will provide a platform for information technology companies, fintech firms, and financial institutions, investors, regulators and more, from all over the world to explore how emerging technologies and innovative advances can power the future of financial services to maximise benefits for consumers, business and society at large.

Vision for Hong Kong’s fintech future

The Head of Fintech at InvestHK noted that Hong Kong’s fintech success is in large part due to the breadth and depth of its financial services industry and entrepreneurial culture. Together with supportive government and regulator policies, substantial pools of private investment and rising fintech adoption rates, the region’s ecosystem has become a magnet for global start-up and scale-up companies. The next wave of opportunities will bring deeper collaboration in the Greater Bay Area financial services ecosystem.

The winners of the 2021 Global Fast Track programme led by InvestHK to promote fintech business adoption and scaling opportunities in Hong Kong will be announced during Hong Kong Fintech Week. In addition to the multi-track conference with prominent speakers, the event will also feature exhibitions, a deal floor, networking and satellite events, demo shows, over 50 workshops and more. Selected keynote sessions will also be live-streamed via the official Hong Kong Fintech Week social media channels and Mainland-based tech news platform 36Kr.

FinTech in Hong Kong

A recent article noted that over the last ten years, Hong Kong has developed significantly in the fintech industry. As the Covid-19 pandemic has changed consumer behaviour, start-ups have been pushed to go beyond innovation and digital transformation. The rise of fintech is now coming into the limelight than ever for financial institutions.

With well-developed information and communication technology, Hong Kong has ramped up its efforts and made its way to becoming an international fintech hub despite its small size. One of the reasons why Hong Kong stands out as a top fintech hub with its fintech development is due to abundant government funding.

The report notes that in addition to progressive regulatory policies, Hong Kong’s government offers multiple grants to help start-ups establish, grow and expand. From R&D support, favourable tax deductions, waived fees and financial hiring assistance to offering matching funds for development, fundraising and even overseas expansion, Hong Kong offers unmatched opportunities for fintech innovation.

The Hong Kong government has taken the initiative to boost the development of fintech by launching an aggressive plan of setting aside $500 million HK to increase its competitiveness and support its financial services industry, fintech included.

The Hong Kong government has also earmarked $10 million HK on the launching of the Fintech Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme to provide “through-train” vetting and funding. The abundant provision of financial assistance enables fintech companies to check the box of capital and proceed with the expansion.

In addition, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), in 2016, launched the Fintech Facilitation Office (FFO) which facilitates the healthy development of the fintech ecosystem in Hong Kong and promotes Hong Kong as a fintech hub in Asia.

Among other things, the FFO acts as:

  • a platform for exchanging ideas of innovative fintech initiatives among key stakeholders and conducting outreaching activities;
  • an interface between market participants and regulators within the HKMA to help improve the industry’s understanding about the parts of the regulatory landscape which are relevant to them;
  • an initiator of industry research in potential application and risks of fintech solutions; and
  • a facilitator to nurture talents to meet the growing needs of the fintech industry in Hong Kong

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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