{"id":166214,"date":"2025-11-29T15:45:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T15:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/166214\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T15:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T15:45:12","slug":"work-in-progress-hong-kong-reaps-the-fruits-of-fintech-seeds-sown-nearly-10-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/166214\/","title":{"rendered":"Work in progress: Hong Kong reaps the fruits of fintech seeds sown nearly 10 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When Alvin Kwock, co-founder of digital insurer <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/business\/banking-finance\/article\/3314348\/hong-kong-virtual-insurer-onedegree-seeks-more-middle-east-growth-eyes-europe-and-africa?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">OneDegree<\/a>, took part in the inaugural Hong Kong FinTech Week in November 2016, it was held at a venue suitable for only a few hundred people.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cAs it was the first ever fintech event in Hong Kong, only fintech start-ups were interested, no big financial institutions paid attention,\u201d Kwock said. \u201cPeople did not have a clear idea of fintech as it was still in an exploratory stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In the years since, fintech in Hong Kong has gone through a sea change. \u201cNow fintech is no longer confined to a few start-ups; it\u2019s on the top of the agenda of banks and insurers,\u201d Kwock said.<\/p>\n<p>The venue has moved from the PMQ (formerly the Police Married Quarters) to the massive Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, with the number of attendees growing 18-fold to 45,000 people. At the recent forum, speakers included some of the most high-profile figures in the financial sector like HSBC CEO <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/georges-elhedery?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Georges Elhedery<\/a> and Standard Chartered Bank CEO <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/bill-winters?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bill Winters<\/a>.<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery (left) takes part in a discussion with Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po (centre) and Standard Chartered CEO at the Hong Kong FinTech Week on November 3. Photo: Jonathan Wong\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/889122ec-2a28-415c-947b-e92dad04b31f_7ef550e8.jpg\" title=\"HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery (left) takes part in a discussion with Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po (centre) and Standard Chartered CEO at the Hong Kong FinTech Week on November 3. Photo: Jonathan Wong\"\/>HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery (left) takes part in a discussion with Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po (centre) and Standard Chartered CEO at the Hong Kong FinTech Week on November 3. Photo: Jonathan WongThis maturation has intensified Hong Kong\u2019s long-standing rivalry with <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/singapore?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Singapore<\/a>. The two cities are competing to develop fintech, a rivalry highlighted this month as both hosted their 10th annual flagship fintech festivals.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While attendance in Hong Kong may have been thinner than in Singapore, the city has an edge over its Southeast Asian rival, thanks to its vibrant capital market providing funding for fintech companies and serving as a gateway to the Greater Bay Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Alvin Kwock, co-founder of digital insurer OneDegree, took part in the inaugural Hong Kong FinTech Week in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[220,50901,92332,3059,72,114,23834,113,92333,57069,4673,92331,15841,23265,240,4980,61,60,9458],"class_list":{"0":"post-166214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-asean","10":"tag-avax","11":"tag-bitcoin","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-christopher-hui-ching-yu","15":"tag-economy","16":"tag-eddie-yue-wai-man","17":"tag-ether","18":"tag-fintech","19":"tag-fintech-week","20":"tag-greater-bay-area","21":"tag-hkma","22":"tag-hong-kong","23":"tag-hsbc","24":"tag-ie","25":"tag-ireland","26":"tag-singapore"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}