HSBC held mid of December the HSBC Safeguard App Competition ‘Demo Day’ at the Bank’s Hong Kong headquarters and announced the results of the competition.

Part of the HSBC Safeguard programme, a global initiative spearheading the Bank’s efforts to fight financial crime, the competition attracted proposals from tertiary students and start-ups in response to real-world challenges relating to how banks ensure they have up-to-date customer information.

Today’s event was hosted by Ms. Diana Cesar, Chief Executive, Hong Kong, HSBC, who said:

“Up-to-date customer information is critical for banks in preventing criminals from accessing the financial system. The HSBC Safeguard App Competition has mobilised local talent to develop new ideas on how banks can protect against financial crime at the same time as maintaining a positive customer experience.”

“I offer our congratulations to the winning teams, who have demonstrated great creativity and commercial thinking,”

added Ms. Cesar.

“And I extend our gratitude to the judging panel and our technology partner, the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), for their support. While the HSBC Safeguard App Competition draws to a close today, the fight against financial crime goes on. This Demo Day demonstrates how technology is critical to keeping criminals out of the financial system while keeping banking simple for legitimate customers.”

The Winner of the Student Category was InstaSure. Their proposal provides an easy-to-navigate interface for individual users with which they can monitor and maintain account security. Users can, for example, verify phone numbers by SMS, answer questions when the bank notices suspicious activity in their accounts and update home addresses with Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

The Winner of the Start-up Category was Earth Channel Limited. Their proposal is a smart eWallet app that requests information from customers in an efficient way and leverages banks’ reward schemes. The solution is secured by two different blockchain technologies and ensures maximum customer privacy.

The Winner of the Student Category was awarded a cash prize of HKD100,000, and the Winner of the Start-up Category was awarded a cash prize of HKD300,000. The HSBC Safeguard App Competition was launched in September 2017. Contestants were asked to develop prototypes for app-based solutions that can ensure banks’ customer information is kept up-to-date in ways that are secure and convenient for customers.

Shortlisted teams attended the Demo Day today to pitch their proposals to a panel of respected banking and technology experts. The distinguished judging panel was made up of Mr Li Shu-pui, JP, Executive Director (Financial Infrastructure), Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Dr MeiKei Ieong, Chief Technology Officer, ASTRI, and Ir Peter Yeung, Head of EE and ICT Cluster, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, and executives from HSBC: Mr Raymond Cheng, Chief Operating Officer, Asia-Pacific, Mr Greg Hingston, Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Hong Kong, and Mr Daniel Chan, Head of Business Banking, Commercial Banking, Hong Kong.

ASTRI is the Technology Enabler of the HSBC Safeguard App Competition, providing a blockchain-based virtual platform for contestants to use as they developed their app prototypes for the competition.

The winners of each category are as follows:

Student Category

Start-Up Category