Speech by Mr. Victor Lam, JP, Government Chief Information Officer, at the “Hong Kong FinTech Week 2018 – FinTech and Beyond Forum” (with photos)
Professor Chan(Professor Philip CHAN, Deputy President and Provost of PolyU), Calvin (Calvin CHOI, Chairman & President, AMTD Group), Professor Cheng (Professor Edwin CHENG, Dean of PolyU Faculty of Business), Marcellus (Marcellus WONG, Vice Chairman, AMTD Group), Professor Tong (Professor Wilson TONG, Director, AMTD FinTech Centre), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. It is my great pleasure to join you all today at the “FinTech and Beyond Forum”. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for organising this event, which is one of the events of the “Hong Kong FinTech Week 2018” bringing together academic researchers and industrial professionals to share their expert knowledge and experience in various Fintech areas and applications.
As a renowned international financial centre with a sound legal system, robust ICT infrastructure, and a vibrant IT and financial services workforce, Hong Kong is an ideal place for the development of Fintech.
In this year’s Budget, the Government announced an array of measures to promote the development of innovation and technology, including the adoption of advanced financial technology. A total sum of $200 million has been allocated to Cyberport to enhance the support for start-ups, including FinTech start-ups, and promote the development of the digital technology ecosystem. In addition, the Government has also set aside a dedicated provision of $500 million for the development of the financial services industry in the coming five years, providing necessary support for FinTech and other aspects of financial services. In the Policy Address recently announced, the Government will inject $20 billion into the Research Endowment Fund of the Research Grants Council under the University Grants Committee to increase the provision of more stable research funding to help attract and retain talents.
With the concerted effort of the Government, financial regulators, industry players and academia, the local Fintech ecology has become increasingly vibrant in recent years. Cyberport’s Fintech cluster consists of some 300 Fintech companies, making it the largest Fintech community in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, world-renowned innovation laboratories and accelerator programmes have established their presence in Hong Kong adding to the synergy. H2 Ventures and KPMG have just published the 2018 Fintech100 Leading Global Fintech Innovators last week. It is most encouraging that WeLab, a Hong Kong-based company, has risen from the 36th place last year to the 23rd place this year.
People here are now enjoying greater convenience brought by Fintech from the transformation of conventional financial services. Just a month ago, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has launched the Faster Payment System (FPS). Hong Kong has entered into a new era of electronic payment as the FPS is a unique retail payment system in the world. We can enjoy an instant payment service round-the-clock supporting both the Hong Kong dollar and the Renminbi, which is robust and secure, and most important, simple and convenient to use.
Furthermore, to expand mobile retail payment and provide greater convenience for both merchants and customers, the HKMA also launched last month a common QR code standard for retail payments to facilitate the acceptance of different payment schemes by using a single QR code amongst merchants.
In the Smart City Blueprint we published last December, one of the key digital infrastructure initiatives for smart city development is to provide a free eID for all Hong Kong residents by mid-2020, enabling them to use a single digital identity and authentication to conduct government and commercial transactions online in a simple, convenient and secure manner. It will foster the development of a new and innovative service model of Fintech applications, and help promote e-commerce, digital trade and online payments.
Apart from the Government, the staunch support from the industry and academia are essential to Fintech development. Today is a good opportunity for all of us to share, learn and contribute. I look forward to witnessing the excellent collaboration between the industry and academia, and the benefit it brings to the local FinTech ecosystem. I wish the event a great success.
Thank you very much.
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