HKSTP Launches FinTech Centre @InnoCentre to Forge the New Era of Financial Services

(Hong Kong, 20 January 2021) – Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) launched its new FinTech Centre located at the InnoCentre in Kowloon Tong to accelerate cross-industry innovation and forge the new era of financial services. This reflects HKSTP’s ongoing commitment to reinforcing Hong Kong’s global leadership as an international financial hub through innovation and technology.

FinTech Centre is the latest addition to the evolving InnoCentre, and a key pillar in HKSTP’s growing Fin+Tech ecosystem. The close-knit ecosystem brings financial institutions, regulators and academics, together with fintech startups and companies focusing on extensive R&D in Hong Kong and globally.

Albert Wong, CEO at HKSTP, said, “Fintech is a strategic focus for HKSTP. Our vision is to nurture the best possible Fin+Tech ecosystem, which has seen rapid growth in recent years. The FinTech Centre’s launch is a new chapter in Hong Kong’s path to be a world-leading fintech hub. Our fintech companies will create the advanced technologies necessary for the financial sector to build a new era of financial services in Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area and beyond.”

The Centre will provide a focal point for different stakeholders to collaborate with fintech companies and co-create projects for the financial sector that harness advanced technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, cybersecurity and data analytics. The Centre will also serve as a base for business matching, a soft-landing for overseas fintech companies, talent nurturing, laboratory and proof-of-concept trials. 

The launch is one of several HKSTP-led initiatives to drive fintech collaboration and co-creation in 2021.

Building Next-Generation Banking Services  

HKSTP is also rolling out its Banking Virtual Lab which aims to accelerate fintech innovation. The virtual lab hosts synthetic banking data and relevant APIs in partnership with financial institutions. This will make it easier for developers and banks to work together to rapidly develop, test and validate new APIs and solutions against synthetic data.

As the lab’s first partner, Hang Seng has already contributed synthetic data and will create a sandbox to collaborate with innovators to address specific business pain points.

Eunice Chan, Chief Operating Officer at Hang Seng Bank, said, “Hang Seng welcomes new initiatives that will drive innovation in fintech. We are supporting HKSTP in the development of its Banking Virtual Lab by contributing synthetic banking data, with the aims of creating a cross-industry ecosystem on the data platform, deepening collaboration with fintech companies, and accelerating the speed of development and success rate of these collaborations. This collective initiative will help drive the continued development of Hong Kong’s banking industry and generate more opportunities to work with fintech companies on the co-creation of customer-centric products that meet the evolving needs of our customers.”

Fast-Tracking Corporate Innovation  

Another major initiative is the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Accelerator under HKSTP’s Global Acceleration Academy (GAA), announced at the Asian Financial Forum on 19 January. This will fast-track corporate innovation across the BFSI sectors and address the sectors’ critical pain points by developing solutions through co-creation. The Accelerator will match financial corporates with HKSTP’s 1000-strong network of technology ventures to enhance operational efficiency, customer experience, wealth management, regulation and compliance.

The Accelerator is supported by industry leaders including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) via the HKMA-HKSTP Fin+Tech Collaboration Platform, Insurance Authority, InvestHK, Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) and the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (HKIB). It is carried out in collaboration with 17 BFSI corporates including Bank of China (Hong Kong), China CITIC Bank International, China Construction Bank (Asia), Citibank Hong Kong, DBS Hong Kong, Fubon Asset Management, Fusion Bank, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, MasterCard, Ping An Technology, Prudential Corporation Asia, SC Ventures by Standard Chartered, SCOR, The Bank of East Asia, WeChat Pay HK and WeLab Bank.

Fintech Innovation Hub

Another key development is the establishment of a new Fintech Innovation Hub (FIH) at the FinTech Centre. A collaboration between Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), HKMA and HKSTP, the FIH will serve as a neutral ground for collaboration between financial institutions, technology companies, corporations, universities and government bodies for idea exploration, proof of concept and prototype development, technology testing as well as education and demo purposes.

Dr Martin Szeto, Chief Operating Officer and acting Co-CEO at ASTRI, said, “As Hong Kong’s largest applied science and technology research institute and having fintech as one of our focus areas of application research and development, ASTRI is constantly finding ways to benefit the entire financial industry and help drive the sector’s growth into a new era. The establishment of the FIH marks another milestone and we look forward to an even closer collaboration with HKMA, HKSTP and other stakeholders to support and promote the continued growth of our thriving fintech ecosystem.”

The FinTech Centre launch featured a panel discussion on the topic of: “Revolutionise Financial Service through Data and Co-creation”. Speakers included Eunice Chan, Chief Operating Officer at Hang Seng Bank; Cheney Cheng, Co-Founder of a Science Park fintech startup Apoidea; Alan Cheung, Senior Director, Cybersecurity, Cryptography and Trusted Technologies at ASTRI; and Wilson Pang, Senior Manager, Fintech Facilitation Office at HKMA.

They shared views on potential data collaboration for the financial sector and the co-creation value from HKSTP’s Fin+Tech ecosystem.

*Please click here to watch a video of FinTech Centre