Hong Kong Fintech Week to begin on November 4

Hong Kong Fintech Week 2019 is to be held during November 4-8 in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. It is organized by Investhk and Finnovasia.

Fintech Association of Sri Lanka (FASL) is a supporting organization.hong Kong Fintech Week is an international fintech event; it brings together fintech communities from the East and the West which seek to expand their businesses to Hong Kong, mainland China and the Asiapacific region.it is expected to attract over 8,000 industry leaders and gather more than 200 topnotch speakers, including fintech entrepreneurs, investors, regulators and academics, over 400 media, 100 fintech exhibitors and over 200 world-class speakers from more than 60 economies across Asia, mainland China and globally.

Attendees will hear from fintech experts around the world, meet industry experts from the world’s most innovative fintech companies and experience China’s Silicon Valley via organised company visits in Shenzhen.

Exhibitors will be able to showcase their latest technology solutions and meet the fastest growing fintech startups from across China, Asia and the world. Hong Kong Fintech Week will see a doubling in the venue size as it moves to the Asiaworldexpo, a reflection on the success and growth of the event which is now one of the world’s leading fintech trade shows.

The new venue is appropriate given the growing importance of Lantau. It’s strategically located close to the newly opened Zhuhaihong Kong-macau highway – and world’s longest sea bridge – which is symbolic of the fintech connection and collaboration between Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, a key theme of Hong Kong Fintech Week.

On the final day of the week, the event will move to Shenzhen, where international attendees will have a rare opportunity to visit and meet with executives of the most innovative fintech companies that are headquartered in so-called China’s Silicon Valley.

What’s clear is that the finance industry is changing rapidly thanks to technology. The sector is becoming more democratised as a result. Technology is also driving competition to improve overall customer experience by enabling cheaper, faster and more convenient banking services.

Newcomers are now entering the market as digital-only banks, insurers, trading platforms, etc. in Hong Kong and other parts of the world – and many of them come from outside the traditional finance industry. It means they bring new skills, capabilities and market understanding to the mix. Airlines, telecom, computer gaming companies, mobile messengers, smartphone producers, ride sharing apps and others are getting involved. And many of these companies will be featured at this year’s Hong Kong Fintech Week.

Hong Kong Fintech Week will feature over 15 digital-only banks from across the world: from Africa to Asia, Europe to the US. And, of course, the eight Hong Kong virtual banks which received banking licenses from Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) earlier this year.

These eight banks are poised for launch, so the week will present an opportunity to learn more about what they will offer and also to compare with what their peers are doing in other parts of the world.

Digital-only banks (or virtual banks) operate without physical branches, offering an alternative customer experience and lowering costs, all aimed at a new audience that wants on-the-go convenience 24/7. Hong Kong Fintech Week will feature digital insurance companies from across the world. These will include Hong Kong’s first digital insurer, Bowtie, which was granted its license by the Insurance Authority late last year. Online insurance is a fastgrowing area within the sector, offering new products, new risk -management tools and affordable bespoke packages, which are opening up new hitherto untapped and under-insured markets. In Hong Kong, they operate without agents, branches or bancassurance distribution.

Hong Kong Fintech Week this year will focus heavily on emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and blockchain. Following the HKMA’S success with its launch of a trade finance platform built on distributed ledger, the importance of blockchain technology is growing fast across the spectrum of financial services, including regulation, supervisory technology, KYC and cybersecurity.