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FinTech Innovators Champion Hong Kong as Asian Hub
By Katie Scott
FinTech startups are booming in number and winning big name backers here in the SAR, but is the current momentum sustainable? Katie Scott talks to the innovators to find out.
The annual Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong saw thousands of people from within the finance sector meet, and business innovation and disruption was high up on the agenda. Financial Technology or FinTech is a relatively new term for centuries of innovation. The ATM, credit card and online banking are all technologies we take for granted. FinTech is now booming, its sweep is wide and it is innovating in the limelight. Startups are talking about their visions, whether to industry peers, universities or to the press, and governments and traditional financial institutions are listening and engaging with them. Last year saw the establishment of three successful accelerator programmes – the DBS and Nest Accelerator, Accenture’s FinTech Innovation Lab and Swire’s Blueprint. The fruits of the Standard Chartered and Baidu Supercharger accelerator will be showcased in April. Startups also competed in the FinTech Finals at which 24 businesses got to present their ideas to a select and powerful panel of bankers, entrepreneurs, VCs and designers. With innovations and collaborations, co-working spaces, mentorships, panels, debates and newly established university courses on the topic, it is, undeniably, an electrifying time for FinTech innovators in the SAR.
Dramatic Growth, Huge Potential FinTech takes in everything from RegTech to crowdfunding to Bitcoin exchanges. Chloe Wang of Channel News Asia wrote that the sector boasted