Here are the Winner of the Hong Kong Fintech Awards 2017. Congrats to all! FinTech Awards 2017 in Banking Outstanding Smart Personal Banking Outstanding Social Platform Flow to Pay Outstanding Digital Wealth Management Platform Distinguished Living Ecology Platform Outstanding Smart Help Outstanding Mobility Money Fingerprint Authentication Service Outstanding Smart Digital Branch Outstanding SME banking services FinTech Awards 2017 in Insurance Outstanding Comprehensive Insurance Services Platform Outstanding Driving Analysis Mobile App Outstanding Financial Technology Social Media Applications Outstanding Consumer Online Insurance Service Outstanding Insurance Product Decoder Outstanding Blockchain Platform in Insurance FinTech Awards 2017 in Lending Outstanding SME…

Traditional financial centers such as London and New York are witnessing increasing pressure from Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen which are quickly becoming front runners in the fintech race. By many measures, China can already be considered the world leader in the fintech industry, counting 500 million fintech users and an overall market size exceeding RMB 12 trillion (US$1.87 trillion) by the end of 2015. The rise of fintech in China has been fueled by the government’s supportive policies and loose regulatory environment, the country’s unique technology ecosystem, and the large pool of individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)…

Hong Kong, a leading international financial center, is quickly emerging as a global fintech hub and a favored location to host regional fintech events. 2017 saw a number of large fintech gatherings taking place in Hong Kong, which brought together some of the world’s top thought leaders, fintech entrepreneurs and financial institutions to discuss the future of finance and banking. This year promises to be even more exciting with already a number of must-attend conferences being scheduled. Here are some of the top fintech events and conferences taking place this year in Hong Kong: Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme 2.0 – Information…

In recent years, crowdfunding has emerged as a popular way for individuals, startups and businesses to raise funding from a global audience of investors. Crowdfunding refers to the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people. Crowdfunding includes peer-to-peer lending, crowdinvesting, reward-based crowdfunding and crowddonating, as well as invoice trading. For small and medium enterprises (SMEs), peer-to-peer lending and overall alternative financing has become a way for those with difficulty accessing credit from conventional banks to keep their businesses afloat. To boost crowdfunding, most jurisdictions around the world have enacted specific legislations…

Standard Chartered and SuperCharger, a Fintech accelerator based in Hong Kong and Malaysia, revealed 10 finalists for its third programme in Hong Kong at the Fintech Finals 2018. SuperCharger pooled 277 applications from 43 countries, a record number that reflects the appeal of Hong Kong as a base for Fintech companies. Of the application pool, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most popular technology sub-sector, followed by Regulatory Technology (RegTech). The majority of the cohort are revenue-generating, mature-stage companies seeking to expand into Asia. Standard Chartered, the Main Partner of SuperCharger who has supported the programme since its founding, welcomes the…

Despite being a global financial center with a thriving fintech sector, Hong Kong has lagged behind in the crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending space. Experts and industry observers have argued that the lack of clear guidance and regulatory framework has hampered the growth of the practice in Hong Kong. Peer-to-peer lending is a form of crowdfunding used to raise loans (personal and business) from the crowd. An increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), notably in developing countries, are relying on the method to raise capital. Several foreign players have started operating in Hong Kong, including Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Indian…

Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer and Mrs Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, met in Bern to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the area of financial markets and to exchange views on international financial and tax matters. Authorities and private sector representatives from Hong Kong and Switzerland signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) during the meeting. During their meeting, Switzerland’s Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer and Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Mrs Carrie Lam discussed topics including the further development of the two financial centres, the opportunities arising from the opening-up of the financial markets in Mainland of the People’s Republic of…

While China strictly banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency exchanges platforms and Macau’s monetary regulator barred local firms from providing ICO-related financial services, Hong Kong has emerged as something as an ICO hub. Hong Kong has witnessed several token sales taking place in its city. Although it hasn’t had noble campaigns like Switzerland or Singapore, the number of local startups opting for the novel fundraising method is on the rise. Hong Kong-based Simple Token conducted an ICO which attracted nearly 7,000 unique purchasers, raising approximately US$21 million in OST. Simple Token, founded by serial entrepreneur Jason Goldberg, enables any…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued a consultation on Open API framework, setting out the HKMA’s intended approach to Open Application Programming Interfaces (API) for the banking industry in Hong Kong. The HKMA now invites relevant parties in the industry to provide comments on the consultation paper. The formulation of the Open API framework is one of the seven initiatives announced by the HKMA in September 2017 to prepare Hong Kong to move into a New Era of Smart Banking. Open API allows better and easier system and service integration between banks and other industries such as lifestyle, healthcare…

In Hong Kong, banks, entrepreneurs and the government itself have joined hands to make the city a hotbed for fintech innovation and a pioneer in digital finance. The fintech industry has significantly grown in recent years aided by initiatives from the government and particularly the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which has committed to developing a healthy and sustainable fintech ecosystem. Hong Kong, a finance center Hong Kong has a large financial services sector which contributes 18% of its GDP and employs some 220,000 people or 6% of the workforce. The city’s advanced financial sector, strong business culture, sophisticated…

Onalytica analysed over 631K posts from 1st January – 20th November 2017 looking at social influence as well as authority by analysing how much influencers are referenced in online media, forums, blogs and YouTube content. These influencers were then added to our Influencer Relationship Management software and this word cloud was created by measuring all the frequencies of all the keywords used in order to provide an accurate gauge of the conversation. The most frequently mentioned topics by the top women in tech influencers were: Artificial Intelligence, FinTech, Blockchain, BigData, IoT, EdTech, MarTech, InsurTech, Virtual Reality, Cyber Security. We decided to…

Hong Kong had a great year 2017 filled with exciting new projects and initiatives, numerous local startups gaining international recognition and a thriving domestic fintech ecosystem. As year 2018 begins, we have compiled some of Hong Kong’s rising fintech stars that you should be watching closely this year. Here’s our pick of the top eight startups from Hong Kong that you should be keeping an eye on in 2018: EMQ EMQ is building a financial network across Asia with a focus on remittances. The company partners with financial institutions and other strategic partners in various countries to enable and settle cross-border…

The fintech ecosystem in Hong Kong is rapidly growing with now some 130 startups in the space, according to Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK). Year 2017 saw many developments in the space. In particular, the year was marked by numerous collaborations and initiatives being launched to foster fintech, some by the government itself, notably the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), others by the private sector. The HKMA, the city’s central bank and banking regulator, has committed to developing a healthy and sustainable fintech ecosystem with industry players, and in this regard, the authority initiated numerous ambitious projects. Here are some of…

24 startups from around the world will be competing for the chance to win a cash prize of US$10,000 at Fintech Finals 2018 in Hong Kong on 30-31 January, 2018. Fintech Finals 2018 is run by Next Money and brought to you by Visa with support from Gold Sponsor, Senjō Group.  They are being held as part of the StartmeupHK Festival, organized by InvestHK to celebrate and showcase the startup ecosystem. Each startup will have just four minutes to pitch their business in front of a live audience to a panel of judges drawn from across the fintech community.  As well as the…

Daniel Liebau from Lightbulb Capital is presenting his reading list of must read books for Innovation in Finance. If you think in Singapore and Hong Kong about Design Thinking and Innovation, then you definitely have to think about Dan and his company, that’s why we think his book recommendations are very valuable for our readers: 10 must Read Books about Innovation in Finance Principles: Life and Work  September 19, 2017 by Ray Dalio Definitively the best book I have read over the period. Ray Dalio and his practices are of course controversial and might better work in a particular type of…

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) today released the 2017 Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500, an annual ranking of the fastest growing Asia Pacific companies in the software and hardware tech sectors, clean technology, media, communications and life sciences. Wuhan Douyu Network Technology Co Ltd claimed the top spot with a growth rate of 70,776 percent over three years; the second highest growth captured in the 16 years of the program. This year’s top ten winners included three companies focused on mobile entertainment, as the Asia Pacific market for live-streaming and mobile gaming continues to grow. Based in China, Wuhan Douyu Network Technology Co Ltd (Wuhan Douyu) is…

Fintech News Hong Kong covers stories about the Fintech Ecosystem – i.e. Mobile Payment, Personal Finance, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Regtech, Robo Advisor and Lending – and Startups in Hong Kong and China. We also produce the Hong Kong Fintech Startup Report and Ecosystem Report. Download it here For the Fintech Meetup readers we have selected our Top China Fintech News: Shanghai: China’s Second Fintech Powerhouse 11 Fast Growing FinTechs in China Shenzhen: One of China’s Top Fintech Hubs 9 Fintech (Startups) in Shenzhen You Have to Know Robo Advisors in Hong Kong Visit us at http://fintechnews.hk and subscribe to our…

Hong Kong fintech startup Blue Pool has won this year’s Next Money Asia semi-final in Hong Kong. Alongside the winners of the other regional semi-finals in Melbourne, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Shanghai, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur, Blue Pool will head to Hong Kong in January 2018 to compete in the 2018 Fintech Finals. Blue Pool is a capital markets machine intelligence company. Blue Pool algorithmically maps information to either profitable human behaviors or directly to asset performance. Using artificial intelligence, it provides portfolio managers, analysts and sell-side traders with signals to make sense of the large volume of information now available,…

In response to growing interest in digital token sales, often referred to as Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”), the FinTech Association of Hong Kong (“FTAHK”) has today published a paper outlining best practices for running token sales in Hong Kong.  The paper harnesses input from leading industry participants. Token sales have raised over US$3 billion this past year and have generated significant interest globally. In Hong Kong, the Securities and Futures Commission issued a statement on ICOs on 5 September 2017 explaining when digital tokens may be subject to the securities laws of Hong Kong. Other regulators have provided guidance to…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) launched a Fintech Supervisory Chatroom . The Chatroom is a new feature of the Fintech Supervisory Sandbox 2.0.  It seeks to provide supervisory feedback to authorized institutions (AIs) and technology firms at an early stage when new technology applications are being contemplated, thereby reducing abortive work and expediting the rollout of new technology applications. Firms may access the Chatroom through emails, video conferences or face-to-face meetings with the HKMA.  The detailed arrangements are set out below: Firms will have access to both the Fintech Facilitation Office and the Banking Departments of the HKMA through…