Hong Kong Fintech Week 2019

Hong Kong Fintech Week 2019

Hong Kong Fintech Week is an international fintech event. This year, it is moving to a bigger venue – AsiaWorld-Expo to accommodate a greater variety of programmes, business events, exhibitors and attendees. It is expected to attract over 8,000 industry leaders and gather more than 200 top-notch speakers, including fintech entrepreneurs, investors, regulators and academics, over 400 media and 100 fintech exhibitors.

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.

Date:    4-8 November 2019

Locations: Hong Kong and Shenzhen

Organiser: Presented by InvestHK and organised by FINNOVASIA

Website:    www.fintechweek.hk

Highlights of Hong Kong Fintech Week 2019:

Focus on Opportunities in GBA

●   Hong Kong Fintech Week will see a doubling in the venue size as it moves to the AsiaWorld-Expo, 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 will accommodate in excess of 8,000 attendees, 100 exhibitors and over 200 world-class speakers from more than 60 economies across Asia, mainland China and globally.

●   The new venue is appropriate given the growing importance of Lantau. It’s strategically located close to the newly opened Zhuhai-Hong 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.

Newcomers in Financial Services Industry

●   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. – we see that here in Hong Kong, but also in 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.

Virtual Banks

●   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 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 Insurers

●   Online insurance is a fast-growing 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 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.

Emerging Technologies: AI, Big Data and Blockchain

●   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. The huge potential – along with the risks – of AI, big data and machine learning technologies in finance will be high on the agenda for the week.

Global Fast-growing Fintech Companies

●   Hong Kong is becoming one of the most attractive destinations for global fintech companies. This year’s Hong Kong Fintech Week will feature more than 10 global fintech unicorns (fast-growing startups with valuation over US$1 billion). With over 100 companies coming to Hong Kong to exhibit and demonstrate their technology, including delegations from the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Israel, Nigeria, New Zealand, Japan and Luxemburg, Hong Kong Fintech Week will also host this year the final stage of the FintechHK Global Competition co-organised by Invest Hong Kong and Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund that took place across six locations globally.

Expected Number of Attendees:

Over 8,000 industry leaders, including senior executives and investors from Hong Kong, mainland China, Asia and major fintech hubs around the world.

8,000+ Industry Leaders   200+ Speakers   100+ Exhibitors   60+ Economies  10+ DelegationsConfirmed Speakers:

●   Kristo Käärmann, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, TransferWise

●   Kathryn Petralia, Co-Founder and President, Kabbage

●   Kenneth Lin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Credit Karma

●   SG Lee, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Toss

●   Alex Twigg, Co-Founder & Chief Information Officer, Judo Bank

●   Jeffrey Cruttenden, Co-Founder, Acorns

●   Lizzie Chapman, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ZestMoney

●   Joseph Lubin, Founder, ConsenSys

●   Oliver Hughes, Chief Executive Officer, Tinkoff

●   Calvin Choi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AMTD

●   Greg Gibb, Chief Executive Officer, Lufax

●   Yashish Dahiya, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, PolicyBazaar

●   Wayne Xu, President, ZhongAn International

●   David Rutter, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, R3

●   Mikaal Abdulla, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, 8 Securities

●   Deniz Güven, Chief Executive Officer, Virtual Bank, Standard Chartered

●   Ryan Fung, Chief Executive, Hong Kong, Ping An OneConnect Bank

●   Yuji Kusunoki, Managing Executive Officer, Rakuten and Chief Executive Officer, Rakuten Securities

●   Charles Li, Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong Stock Exchange

For the latest speaker lineup of Hong Kong Fintech Week, please visit www.fintechweek.hk/speakers.

Tentative Agenda

For the latest updates and details about the Hong Kong Fintech Week, please visit www.fintechweek.hk or follow InvestHK on social media:

Twitter: @HongKongFinTech / #HKFintechWeek

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2WDSjB9

YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TJJB2t

WeChat:

For the latest updates and details on the fintech development in Hong Kong, please click here (English version only).

About InvestHK:

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government Department responsible for foreign direct investment. It has set up a dedicated fintech team in Hong Kong with correspondents located in London and San Francisco. It aims at attracting worldwide top innovative fintech enterprises, start-up entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders to expand and scale their business via Hong Kong to mainland China, Asia and beyond.

About FINNOVASIA:

FINNOVASIA is Asia’s largest and most active fintech community. Since 2015, FINNOVASIA hosted a number of regional conferences in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur attended by over 5,000 senior level fintech executives, founders, investors, and entrepreneurs from more than 20 countries. It creates, organises and runs some of the most renowned fintech conferences, workshops, hackathons, and networking nights in Asia.

Media Enquiries:

Sadie Lam, FleishmanHillard

Tel: (852) 2586-7836

Davis Li, FleishmanHillard 

Tel: (852) 2586-7852

Email: hkg.investhk@fleishman.com