The third edition of EmTech Hong Kong, co-organised by MIT Technology Review and Koelnmesse, ended on a high note after two days of stimulating and insightful discussions on the latest breakthroughs in science and technology. Held from 26 to 27 June at Hong Kong Cyberport, EmTech Hong Kong was attended by close to 400 like-minded individuals from 18 countries and regions. This year’s line-up of speakers included some of the brightest minds in the areas of Smart City Management, Machine Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Genomics, MedTech, Fintech and Cybersecurity. “Cyberport is honoured to co-host the global conference EmTech Hong Kong…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today recently that the Financial Secretary, on the advice of the Governance Sub-Committee of the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee, has approved the appointment of Mr Colin Pou as Executive Director (Financial Infrastructure) with effect from 29 October 2018. Mr Pou will take over from Mr Shu-pui Li, who will leave the HKMA on resignation for personal reason with effect from the same date. Executive Director (Financial Infrastructure) is responsible for developing the financial market infrastructure, and for enhancing the fintech ecosystem of Hong Kong. He will also be in charge of the Currency…

Smart technology client verification solution provider Know Your Customer (KYC) has received investment of €250,000 from Enterprise Ireland.  The investment will be directed towards growth in key Asian markets, particularly mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Know Your Customer provides digital solutions which quickly and accurately identify and verify companies and individuals prior to client on-boarding.  The comprehensive client identity verification solutions from KYC are making compliance officers’ lives easier by helping with compliance, risk and client on-boarding functions, ensuring companies can accurately and confidently conduct their KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) functions. KYC’s digital solutions maximise compliance teams’ efficiency and capacity,…

Token Fest has announced its second event in North America, taking place at the Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center in Boston, September 13 – 14, 2018. The event will feature a new trifold conference format designed for VIP’s entitled: Institutional Strategy, Accredited Investors/Family Offices, and Enterprise Professionals. The enhanced program reinforces Token Fest’s commitment to produce the highest caliber of educational and networking experiences for senior level executives exploring blockchain solutions. Following on the heels of a successful flagship event in San Francisco, which had over 2,000 attendees, 129 exhibitors, and 60 sponsors, Token Fest 2018 expects to double in size, with over…

Prudential Hong Kong has taken a stride forward in its digital capabilities with the launch of two innovations, “Hospital to Prudential” and Chatbot Claims, which will help redefine the way consumers and medical professionals manage hospital claims in Hong Kong. Sam Lim, Chief Transformation Officer of Prudential said, “In this digital era, customers increasingly demand a convenient, rable and secure insurance claims experience. These innovations respond to customers’ evolving needs and herald a milestone in the evolution of insurance claims in Hong Kong.” “Hospital to Prudential” portal provides customers with effortless claims experience The “Hospital to Prudential”…

APrivacy, a provider of digital security solutions for Financial Services, announced its new solution, APrivacy Bot on WhatsApp, which is poised to transform how banks and insurance companies engage with their customers. APrivacy offers a fully programmable chatbot, or connection with an existing chatbot, providing interactions with customers directly over WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging service. Uniquely, APrivacy Bot leverages WhatsApp by providing a personal communication experience for customers within their favourite messaging app without the need to install any other software. Integrated within the APrivacy suite of products, the solution also supports the additional ability for customers to be…

More than 180 leaders from financial institutions, fintech entrepreneurs and regulators gathered last week in Hong Kong to discuss the latest disruption to the financial sector and to see how it has changed since the global financial crisis of 2008, and how much it will change in the next ten years. The one-day event addressed topics such as a ten-year outlook of Asia’s financial institutions; how the financial sector has changed in the last decade; whether regulators and traditional companies will keep pace with technological evolution; how AI and blockchain technologies are altering the banking ecosystem and driving further change,…

At Financial announced that the Company will share a full suite of AI capabilities with asset management companies in China to support their digital transformation. Following its successful launch last year, Caifuhao, an AI-powered corporate account on the Ant Fortune platform, has brought tangible benefits to 27 fund management companies. Eric Jing, Executive Chairman and CEO of Ant Financial said, “By combining Ant Financial’s AI technologies with the capabilities of asset management companies in investor education and fund management, together we are making customized wealth management services more accessible for ordinary users.” With the support of AI-powered services offered by…

Quantifeed, a B2B robo-advice provider for Asia, closed US$10 million in a Series B funding round. The investment is led by Cathay Financial Holding, Taiwan’s largest financial holding company, with participation from Legg Mason, the US-based global asset manager. The Series B round will enable Quantifeed to fuel its regional growth in Asia. The investment will support the opening of an office in Singapore. The funds will also accelerate research and development in areas such as behavioural analytics and data science to improve customer engagement. Alex Ypsilanti, CEO and Co-Founder of Quantifeed said, “We welcome the commitment of Cathay Financial Holdings and Legg Mason to our growth…

Cryptocurrencies’ model of generating trust limits their potential to replace conventional money, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) writes in its Annual Economic Report (AER), a new title launched this year. In a special chapter on cryptocurrencies, the BIS argues that the decentralised technology underpinning private digital tokens is no substitute for tried and trusted central banks. Today’s cryptocurrencies become more cumbersome to use as the number of users increases, in contrast to conventional money, which works better the more people use it and trust it. “Money has value because it has users,” says Hyun Song Shin (video), Economic Adviser and Head of…

One of world’s best-selling cryptocurrency personal security device brands appointed Lava Tech as sole distributor in Greater China. Ledger, the developer of Ledger Nano S, today announced that it has authorized Hong Kong Lava Holdings Company Limited (“Lava Tech”) as the distributor of Ledger Nano S in Greater China, covering mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Lava Tech will provide technical support and after-sales services. More than 1.2 million hardware wallets developed by Ledger have been sold in 165 countries and regions globally, making Ledger one of the best-selling brand of cryptocurrency personal security devices. Its leading technology and…

Nasdaq  announced that it is establishing connectivity to three data centers in Hong Kong to increase its service to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region through a Nasdaq Point of Presence (POP), helping to provide more efficient, cost-effective access to Nasdaq financial data in the region. In July, Nasdaq will begin to offer easy access to data from the U.S. financial markets via POP services in the following Hong Kong data centers: HK1 Equinix, Mega-i, and HKEx. The Nasdaq POP is designed to enable firms to access market data and trading applications, as well as APAC financial web portals, with real-time U.S.…

The Hong Kong event is the first in a series of four hackathons taking place around the world this year under the theme decentralize everything, with a total of US$1.5 million in prizes to be awarded by EOS VC. Each hackathon event features a unique challenge for developers building on EOSIO. The top three prize winners from each of the four hackathons will compete in a Grand Finale Pitch Competition event in December. The Hong Kong Challenge: “Decentralized Applications (DAPPs) for Scale” Identify a centralized business model and create a decentralized alternative that is built for large-scale mainstream adoption Competing teams at the hackathon were tasked with attempting to “hack” the challenge, with the…

Competition to innovate is set to peak with the development of China’s Greater Bay Area. The region is estimated to represent about 12% of the country’s current economy and attract some of the biggest players in innovation. The competition lies not only in technological advancements but the ability for companies to commercialize their innovation at a faster pace than their Western counterparts. The Greater Bay Area refers to the initiative proposed by the central government to combine 11 cities – Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in the Guangdong province – to form a world-class integrated economic, business and technological…

Mr Norman Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), together with Mr Ai Xuefeng, Deputy Mayor of the People’s Government of Shenzhen Municipality, and Mr He Xiaojun, Director-General of the Office of Financial Development Service (OFDS), met with representatives of the winning organisations of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Fintech Award. Shenzhen-Hong Kong Financial Collaborative Innovation Award Organisations Shenzhen/ Hong Kong Initiatives Prizes 1 Shenzhen Stock Exchange Shenzhen Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect First prize China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited 2 Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited Hong Kong Joint e-Cheque clearing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen Second prize…

Credit Suisse announced additional enhancements to its digital private banking platform in Hong Kong, as client adoption and usage continues to increase. Based on its partnership with the fintech company Canopy, Credit Suisse has made the automated account aggregation platform and reporting solution, Canopy, accessible to its Hong Kong booked clients through its Digital Private Banking platform. Francois Monnet, Head of Greater China, Private Banking Asia Pacific and Chief Executive Hong Kong branch said, “Credit Suisse is at the forefront of digitization in the private banking sector. Since launching our Digital Private Banking platform in Hong Kong two years ago,…

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) today announced the launch of the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA). Located in the heart of Taipei City, inside Taipei Arena, TTA is a tech innovation and entrepreneurship hub connecting the world’s tech startup ecosystems under one roof. Its main mission is to cultivate deep technology entrepreneurship, foster commercialization of innovation and build a vibrant international tech startup ecosystem in Taiwan. Chen Liang-Gee, Minister of MoST, stated: “TTA’s goal is to build an international tech startup environment in Taiwan by building a strong network consisting of five pillars: talent from academic R&D, international accelerators,…

SWIFT released today the names of the ten Chinese banks that have gone live on its global payments innovation initiative (gpi) since its launch in May 2017. The banks are: Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Minsheng Bank, China Guangfa Bank, China Construction Bank, Bank of Jiangsu, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China Citic Bank, and China Zheshang Bank. Seventeen other Chinese banks have committed to SWIFT gpi in China and are in the process of going live. Together, these banks represent an estimated 86% of cross-border payment traffic conducted by Chinese banks in…

BNY Mellon and Deutsche Bank today announced the integration of their chatbots built on the Symphony platform which will result in a more seamless flow of information for clients trading securities on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The chatbots will improve the workflow efficiency between both organizations and the client experience. Building on a proof of concept developed in a 24-hour hackathon by BNY Mellon’s Singapore Innovation Center team, Deutsche Bank and BNY Mellon jointly deployed a chatbot-to-chatbot communication solution that replaces previously manual responses to status updates on their securities trades. Using these new chatbots, trade settlement status queries…

CEOs of companies headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong are optimistic about the growth outlook of the global economy and their companies, and are actively investing in innovative technologies and pursuing M&A to achieve their growth objectives, finds a new KPMG survey. The report, titled Collaborating and innovating for growth – 2018 China CEO Survey, features China findings from a global KPMG survey of 1,300 CEOs worldwide –including 125 from mainland China and Hong Kong – across a wide range of industries. The survey finds that three-quarters of China CEOs are confident about the growth prospects of the global…