Fintech summit: young blood, fresh ideas key to Hong Kong’s digital finance future, say industry leaders
The Greater Bay Area Fintech Talent Initiative is a program organized by the HKMA, Bloomberg and the Hong Kong United Youth Association. The first intake of 323 students completed a three week course which ended on March 3.
More than 20 financial giants, including Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Citigroup and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, which runs the local exchange, are lending their support to the initiative.
It aims to nurture fintech talent in the Bay Area, Beijing’s plan linking Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province to form an economic powerhouse by 2035.
Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the city’s access to the zone with its 87 million residents gives fintech companies a huge advantage.
“The GBA is a huge market for our fintech companies [and] will provide enormous opportunities ranging from product development and distribution to asset management and surfaces,” said Chan, who spoke at the event.
“GBA is a big market for our fintech companies [and] will provide enormous opportunities, Finance Minister Paul Chan said at the conference. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Hong Kong offers a business-friendly environment, Chan said, as well as the free flow of capital, making it a very attractive location for fintech companies.
The world’s top financial firms will need exposure to fintech, Chan added, as online payments become more common.
The use of online payment systems has seen a sharp increase in Hong Kong. The city saw its online retail sales reach HK$34.6 billion (US$4.41 billion) in 2022, up by about a fifth from the previous year, according to data from the Census and Statistics Department.
Nicholas Aguzin CEO of HKEX also attended the summit. In a panel discussion, he said Hong Kong is “creating an innovation cluster” and described it as a “Silicon Valley and Wall Street all rolled into one”.
David Liao, managing director of HSBC Asia-Pacific, said the Bay Area offers a “wealth of career opportunities”.
“The The GBA is the new vanguard for China’s development and will be for years to come – in investment, finance, fintech and trade,” Liao said. “We are delighted that more than 300 students from local universities participated in the initiative, helping to build a strong pipeline in Hong Kong’s talent pool.”
Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” is a major strength, according to Liao, as it provides the best of two worlds – access to the world’s second largest economy and the internationalism of Hong Kong’s financial centre.
The government has slowly introduced several talent schemes it hopes will tackle the so-called brain drain which has seen the local workforce shrink by around 140,000 between 2020 and 2022.
The government’s recent budget announcement included a scheme for secondary school students aimed at helping them access fintech internships in technology companies. The initiative will work alongside other recent policies aimed at attracting professionals and top university graduates.
Speaking during another panel discussion at Thursday’s summit, Jia Mao, Goldman Sachs’ global head of data science and machine learning, cited the benefits of blockchain technology in facilitating innovations that will support the transition to clean energy, such as tokenized green bonds.
“Blockchain technology has potential and is already starting to show us how it can fundamentally transform the way financial transactions can be done almost cleanly with more transparency, more efficiency and at lower costs,” he said.
