The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, today (June 16) led representatives from the securities and investment industry to visit Cyberport to learn about the latest developments in the financial technology (fintech) area. The Permanent Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (Financial Services), Ms Salina Yan, and the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, also joined the visit.
Mr Hui and the representatives from the industry, headed by Legislative Council member Mr Christopher Cheung, first met with the Chief Executive Officer of Cyberport, Mr Peter Yan. They were pleased to learn that the fintech ecosystem has been thriving and that currently some 400 fintech companies and start-ups have settled in well in this major fintech community.
They were then introduced to four start-ups, namely Alphalion, iFinGate, iDDY and Lora Technologies, which have just been approved to receive subsidies under the Fintech Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme (PoC Scheme). The start-ups gave presentations on their leading technologies, applicable to various aspects like clearing and settlement for securities firms, artificial intelligence (AI) analytics, know-your-customer and AI investment management platforms. They also took the chance to exchange views on project details and their applications.
Mr Hui said, "Technologies are developing rapidly. To catch up with the trend, the securities industry can make good use of new technologies to provide high value-added and professional investment and customer services for their clients. Fintech has evolved from a mere concept to a practical option that facilitates business operation, providing technical solutions to help with the industry's front, middle and back-end work procedures. Fintech also drives business transformation in many ways, such as tailor-made financial planning and wealth management services for specific clientele, investment advice based on data analytics, use of big data for customer analysis and enhanced risk management.
"The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau engaged Cyberport at the end of February to administer the PoC Scheme, which has been very well received by the industry since its launch. We received more than 80 applications and 54 of them are approved. The approved projects cover a range of categories, including regtech, wealthtech, payment systems, insurtech, open application programming interfaces for the banking sector, and cross-sector as well as cross-boundary applications between Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area or Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, involving a total grant of around $6.1 million."
He added, "Application for Phase 2 of the scheme will close on June 30 and I appeal to the industry to seize the opportunity to put forth and test various innovative and practical fintech solutions and products, so as to expand their businesses."
The PoC Scheme encourages financial institutions to partner with fintech companies to conduct PoC projects on innovative financial services products. Each approved PoC project will be provided a maximum direct one-off grant of up to $100,000 or $150,000. Application for Phase 1 ended on April 30.
Cyberport is committed to promoting the development of digital technology. Apart from the PoC Scheme, Cyberport has launched the Cyberport Financial Practitioners Fintech Training Programme to deepen the practitioners' understanding of fintech and promote the adoption of innovative fintech solutions in the traditional financial services sector. Cyberport has also rolled out a Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme that provides internship opportunities for university students in financial institutions, for the sake of cultivating more fintech talents.
Follow this news feed: East Asia