Hong Kong, an international finance center, has put a lot of effort into becoming a leading fintech hub.
Today, the special administrative region is home to 48 of the world’s top 100 fintech companies, over 40 incubator and accelerator programs, and no less than three fintech sandboxes that allow financial institutions and startups to test innovative solutions.
Hong Kong is also the number one location in Asia in terms of smartphone penetration, the fifth fastest growing startup ecosystem in the world, and the world’s leader when it comes to fintech adoption.
Among the industry participants driving the fintech revolution in Hong Kong, the followings are seven fintech founders that are putting the region on the fintech map:
Simon Loong, Founder and CEO at WeLab
Simon Loong is the founder and CEO of WeLab, which operates Wolaidai, one of China’s largest mobile lending platforms and WeLend, Hong Kong’s leading online lending platform.
Prior to founding WeLab, Loong spent 15 years in retail banking divisions of leading international banks. Loong serves as an advisor on a number of professional organizations including Shenzhen Consumer Council, Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. He was awarded CEO of the Year by Capital CEO in 2016, Innovation Leadership Achievement in Hong Kong by The Asian Banker in 2017 and The InnoStars Award by Our Hong Kong Foundation in 2018.
Maggie Ng, Founder and CEO at FinEx Asia
Ng has close to 20 years of banking experience and held various senior positions in both business and risk management at Citibank.
In 2017, she co-founded FinEX Asia, the first global fintech marketplace connecting Asian investors with global high quality and low volatility asset classes, including US consumer loans, an asset class that was traditionally dominated by global institutional investors and banks. Ng most recently served as the Asia and EMEA head of unsecured lending at Citibank N.A. Prior to Citibank, she held senior positions at Ernst & Young (Australia) and Broken Hill Proprietary (HK) Ltd.
Alex Kong, Founder and CEO at TNG Wallet
Alex Kong is the CEO and founder of TNG Wallet, one of Hong Kong’s largest e-wallet service provider.
TNG Wallet is presently reported to be the most accepted e-wallet with the largest user base in Hong Kong. Kong is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in IT, e-commerce, payment gateway and business solutions. His first company, AsiaTravelMart, was founded in 1997 in Kuala Lumpur and became one of Asia’s leading travel sites. In 2011, Kong founded AFOOFA Solutions, which supplied the sophisticated computerized reservation systems (CRS) that powered the Internet booking engine of various airlines, hotels, and cruises.
Stefan Bruun, Founder at CompareAsiaGroup
Stefan Bruun is the founder of CompareAsiaGroup, the operator of online comparison platforms for financial, telco and utility products across Asia.
Bruun founded more than 30 Internet ventures, including Lazada and Zalora, and was selected as one of the Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Financial and Venture Capital in 2016. He has advised blue-chip brands on and built marketing, digital, and product strategies for brands including L’Oreal, Lancome, Maybelline, Garnier, Shu Uemura, Biotherm, IKEA, Adidas, Reckitt Benckiser, Toys’R’Us, AXA, Perfetti (Mentos), Ericsson, BMW, Honda, Ralph Lauren, Diesel, Kiehl’s, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, and more.
Maxine Ryan, Co-Founder and COO at Bitspark
Maxine Ryan is the co-founder and COO of Bitspark, a cash in, cash out blockchain remittance platform for money transfer operators and individuals to send Asia-wide.
Her startup has won international awards for its innovation in payments and is redeemed as one of the pioneers of the bitcoin/blockchain remittance space. Ryan is an advocate for blockchain technology having consulted and strategized with Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, telcos and startups in the use case of the technology. She is an international speaker on the topic as well as a mentor to fintech startups. She frequently speaks at tech and finance events, can be see on BloombergLive and was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, 2018.
Bianca Ho, Co-Founder and COO at Clare.AI
Bianca Ho is the co-founder and COO of Clare.AI, which builds white label AI digital assistants to empower financial institutions to engage their customers in a natural and reliable way.
Prior to founding Clare.AI, Bianca worked as business development manager at OneSky and Zendesk, and private banking analyst at JP Morgan. Ho is also the co-founder of Dotkids, a startup aiming to create a children friendly space online. She is an active youth advocate in Internet governance, and is one of the youngest members of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group in the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (UNIGF).
Alex Medana, Co-Founder and CEO at FinFabrik
Alex Medana is the co-founder and CEO of FinFabrik, a fintech company building the next generation of platforms to improve the customer journey particularly in capital markets and wealth management.
Previously, Medana spent 17 years in various Tier 1 global financial institutions overseeing operations across diverse asset classes, client segments and business lines in Europe and APAC. He is also a Hong Kong Fintech Association founding board member where he advocates innovation and education.
David Rosa, CEO and Founder of Neat Ltd.
David is the founder of Neat Ltd., a mobile-based platform that allows individuals and businesses to open an account with their phones, in a bid to cater to the underserved of Hong Kong. The accounts are tied to a prepaid MasterCard which can be used locally and globally as well, and can connect to Stripe and Paypal. Neat is based in Telegraph Bay, Hong Kong. David Rosa himself has previously dabbled in capital management prior to founding Neat, and still currently serves as its Responsible Officer. He also has the experience of founding a few startups under his belt, including one for e-commerce and running a startup laboratory.
Mikaal Abdulla, CEO and Co-Founder of 8 Securities
Mikaal has been named one of Asia’s Fintech 100 for founding 8 Securities, a mobile stock trading and investment platform catered towards Asian Millennials. The company so far has raised $60 million, and is currently exploring how to upgrade robo-advisors. Before founding 8 Securities, Abdulla had a stint as the senior vice president of Asia at E-Trade. 8 Securities is currently available in Hong Kong and Japan.
Featured image credit: Ryan McManimie on Unsplash
