Hong Kong’s fintech body eyes bigger plans in Greater Bay, stronger links with Shenzhen

Hong Kong’s fintech community is expanding its size and scope of programmes as opportunities from the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the cross-border investment Connect schemes bring in more players to the city, its leader said.

The association plans to elevate its relationship with its peer in Shenzhen, the mainland’s leading technology hub in southern Guangdong province, said Wang, who is also the head of digital and innovation at DBS Bank Hong Kong, a unit of Singapore’s biggest banking group.

The FTAHK will visit Huawei’s research and development institute in Dongguan, another city in the province, in September in an event co-organised by the two fintech industry groups, Wang said. They will also enhance their ties for the Hong Kong Fintech Week in late October, she added.

The FTAHK is keen to have a stronger influence across “everything GBA for fintech,” said Wang. The Shenzhen FinTech Association, which has a wide and broad member base, has become a “natural partner”, she said in an interview.

“They have members who are actively looking to expand outside mainland China and keen to learn from us how businesses are done here,” Wang said.

The FTAHK, established in 2017, has experienced rapid growth in the past two years. It has nearly 300 corporate members. Its Shenzhen counterpart has signed up more than 180 members since its inception in 2005.

Governments on both sides of the border have introduced many measures to enable fintech companies to prosper in the GBA area, with one of the most notable initiatives being around data, Wang said.

The checks utilise blockchain technology and data coding for document verification without involving any transfer or storage of the original documents.

Wang said the FTAHK is also focusing on attracting more mainland Chinese members to better represent the diverse fintech players in Hong Kong, including introducing more events and publications in Mandarin and launching an official WeChat account to “deepen its connections with the GBA fintech community, according a statement on July 29.

Last year, the FTAHK took some of its members to visit Dubai and Abu Dhabi to link with entrepreneurs, businesses, investors and regulators. It was part of its efforts to be “the voice of GBA fintech on the world stage.”

“What we were trying to do is just expose our members to an opportunity to meet all those different players in the ecosystem because some of them are actively trying to expand beyond Hong Kong,” said Neil Tan, Wang’s predecessor at FTAHK. “That is really what the fintech association is about, these different super-connector-type of relationships.”

Wang is the first female chair appointed by the FTAHK. She was formerly head of digital innovation and fintech partnership in London at HSBC, Europe’s biggest lender.

Additional reporting by Xinyi Wu