The wait is over! You may now check out the full programme of Hong Kong FinTech Week’s main conference on Nov 6-7, 2019.

What should you expect from this year’s event?

The FinTech Week will be featuring over 200 speakers from 28 countries, who will be sharing their insights across six stages within two days of the event.

The six major programme tracks consist of over 75 hours of high quality content, covering all key developments across different verticals of the financial technology industry in Hong Kong / China, Asia and globally.

Here are the top 10 reasons why you should consider attending this year’s event.

1. Meet World’s Top FinTech Unicorns

This year Hong Kong FinTech Week will bring on stage the world’s hottest FinTech companies and fast-growing global unicorns. You will have an opportunity to hear from founders and CEOs of such companies as

• TransferWise global money transfer service from the UK valued at $3.5Bn
• Kabbage SoftBank-backed SME lender from the US with $2.5Bn funding
• Kreditech AI-driven digital lender with $497.3M funding from Germany
• Acorns WealthTech micro-investing app from US, valued at $860M)
• Judo Bank Australian neobank for SMEs with $1.1Bn funding
• Lufax PingAn’s WealthTech arm with $39.4Bn valuation)
• WeLab Hong Kong’s virtual bank and leading FinTech player across Asia
• Credit Karma Silicon Valley’s FinTech with 60M+ customers and $587.5M funding

2. Hear From the FinTech Regulators

You will hear from all three major regulators on recent policy development supporting innovation within the industry, including chief executives of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Securities and Futures Commission and Insurance Authority of Hong Kong.

FinTech Week will also be featuring senior executives from Greater China regulators, including The People’s Bank of China and Shenzhen Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, and Bank of Thailand.

HKMA will be hosting a series of sessions dedicated to Distributed Ledgers Use Cases in Cross-Border Trade Finance, Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence.

3. Dive Into InsurTech And Meet Virtual Insurers

Digital innovation in the insurance industry will be one of the key themes across two days of the FinTech Week main conference program. This year’s event will be featuring founders and CEOs of exciting companies such as

• PolicyBazaar India’s largest Insurance marketplace with over $1Bn valuation
• ZA International China’s first online insurer with $3.7Bn market cap backed by “three Ma’s
• wefox Group Germany’s insurtech startup, backed by Mubadala Ventures
• SingLife Digital insurer backed by Sumitomo Life with over $170M funding
• Baozhunniu China’s insurance customization platform driven by big data

FinTech Week will be also featuring first ‘Virtual Insurers’ who were granted with the licence earlier this year by the Hong Kong Insurance authority. Among them are Blue, Hong Kong’s first digital insurer backed by Tencent and Aviva, and Bowtie, Hong Kong virtual insurer backed by Sun Life.

4. Learn about China’s digital currency initiative

This year’s Hong Kong FinTech Week will open the curtain to one of the most discussed recent moves by China’s central bank which plans to launch its digital currency. For the first time, The People’s Bank Of China’s Deputy Director Mu Changchun will take the stage at an international event to reveal the details of China’s regulator on launching its version of digital yuan.

You will also learn about FISCO, the blockchain consortium in Shenzhen, that develops an open source platform together with over 20 financial institutions and financial technology companies in China, including WeBank, Tencent and Huawei.

5. Meet Hong Kong virtual banks

Attendees of the Hong Kong FinTech Week will have an opportunity to meet with the newly established virtual banks, which are planning to launch operations very soon. Previously, Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted eight virtual banking licenses that will allow to operate digital-only banks in Hong Kong.

You will have a chance to be among the first to hear directly from CEOs of the virtual banks, including Ping An’s OneConnect, Standard Chartered with HKT & Ctrip, Tencent, WeLab, Xiaomi & AMTD, JD Digits with Bank of China and Jardines, ZA International.

6. Hear From the Top Blockchain in Finance Experts

Hong Kong FinTech Week will also feature the world’s most revolutionary enterprise blockchain innovators for financial services, including the creator of ConsenSys and Ethereum Co-Founder, CEO and Founder of R3 consortium with more than 300 corporate members, the mastermind behind Korea’s messenger Kakao blockchain arm GroundX, Co-Founder of the distributed ledger pioneer Digital Asset backed by JP Morgan, Executive Director of the open source cross-industry blockchain technology Hyperledger and the Founder of BitPesa, the company that enables blockchain-powered payments and remittances across Africa.

The Blockchain in Finance will also cover such aspects like new asset class – crypto institutionalisation & stable coins

7. Learn about AI, Big Data and Open API

A big focus of 2019 Hong Kong FinTech Week will be on emerging technologies and its applications in financial services; such as the use of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in credit scoring and lending, enabling Open APIs to develop banking products platforms and for cross-industry collaboration, use of Cloud Technology and potential opportunities with 5G Network for financial services. Attendees will have an opportunity to dive into the details and practicalities of real-life applications, learn from the technology experts, academics and industry professionals.

8. Explore 100+ FinTech startups and Meet VCs

Discover the most innovative technology solutions at 18,000 sq m FinTech Expo and watch live demos on the Experience Stage. Hong Kong FinTech Week brings together over 100 fast-growing FinTech companies from Asia, Europe, and the US. It will host 150+ exhibitors demonstrating the latest innovative technologies in financial services.

Hear from the partners of the most active VCs in financial technology such as SoftBank and DST Global.

Hong Kong FinTech Week is also joining efforts with Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund to co-host the final round of the FinTechHK Global competition, where startups will have a chance to win $500k USD or more investment commitment. Attendees will have a chance to witness the pitching from finalists – founders of the FinTech companies that were selected through a series of pitches across multiple locations globally in Europe, USA, and Asia.

9. Take a tour to Shenzhen, China’s Silicon Valley

One of the highlights of the Hong Kong FinTech Week is a rare opportunity to travel to Shenzhen, located within 40 min drive from Hong Kong. On the final day of the week, attendees will have a chance to meet in person with executives of the most innovative TechFin companies based in Shenzhen.

Shenzhen Day pass holders will be given a choice of visiting such companies like ZhongAn, China’s first online insurer backed by “three Ma”, WeBank, the world’s largest digital-only bank, WeLab, one of Hong Kong FinTech unicorns with virtual bank license, and Tencent, one of the world’s largest tech companies that is famous for its WeChat Pay innovation.

You will also explore opportunities in the Greater Bay Area which has a combined population of over 69M with a GDP of around US$1.5 trillion (comparable to that of Tokyo Bay Area and New York Metropolitan Area).

10. Matchmaking and Networking With Like-Minded Attendees

You will be able to connect and meet with potential clients, partners and investors via B2B matchmaking app that is designed to facilitate meaningful connections among the attendees.

The dedicated meeting space “Deal Floor” and the specially designed Matchmaking App to facilitate meetings between hundreds of potential buyers, clients, investors, startups, regulators and government representatives.

In addition to that, following last year’s success, Hong Kong FinTech Week’s Fast Track programme is back. Specially designed to help international FinTech companies scale their business in the region via Hong Kong.

Hong Kong FinTech Week is also known not just for its high quality and insightful content, but also for its all week-long special networking nights across multiple locations, helping attendees to meet each other and make friends.

Explore innovation labs and join community events on Monday and drinks in fancy bars of redeveloped old Hong Kong prison in Tai Kwun on Thursday, and, finally, Cocktails Night in Tencent’s new headquarters – a 50-story skyscraper in Shenzhen on Friday.

Register now here: http://bit.ly/2ltyEqK

Featured image credit: @HongKongFinTech twitter