Fintech is coming on strong in Hong Kong with the unleashing of a career accelerator scheme to tap into the juicy veins of young blood. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) have launched their Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme (FCAS) induction day today (27 July), […]
The Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK) has officially launched “to champion an open, inclusive and diverse fintech community in Hong Kong”.
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have signed a co-operation agreement for financial innovation. Both parties play up their “already close ties” and the Australia-Hong Kong trade and investment relationship “more broadly”. ASIC says Hong Kong is Australia’s seventh most important destination for services exports, valued […]
Fair play is on its way as Hong Kong’s Private Wealth Management Association (PWMA) has adopted the “Treat Customers Fairly Charter for Private Wealth Management Industry”. Developed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the PWMA, the charter has five “high-level principles” and examples of measures to guide PWMA members in their implementation. These […]
Hong Kong is looking to boost its fintech scene with an initiative to help tech firms take the right road for their initial public offering (IPO). Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) have launched their “Road to IPO” platform. It’s not purely for fintech as the […]
Like that lacklustre movie Braveheart, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says you will never take away our freedom and the chances of a free-for-all for regulations will never happen. In a speech that had more repeats than the UK TV channel Dave, Christopher Woolard, FCA’s executive director of strategy and competition, told the audience […]
Hong Kong’s government has come under fire for perceived failings in the further development of fintech in the region. The Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) today (9 May) has released two research reports that look at the fintech scene in Hong Kong and it urges the government to step up the action. Chairperson of the […]
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has chosen Nasdaq to upgrade the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong’s main derivatives market, including trading, clearing and real-time risk management technologies. The agreement also extends the existing relationship for an additional five years. HKEX and Nasdaq have been technology partners since 1994. Under the new agreement, Nasdaq will […]
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
Jargon defeated. Unnecessary words deleted. A brief round-up. Featuring Adel, Bitfinex and crime. If something’s rotten in the state of Denmark, it’s going to get found out. Danish newspaper Berlingske has revealed that police stopped drug traffickers by tracing Bitcoin transactions. It’s not the first time great Danes have done good deeds. Last month, the […]
Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), a blockchain architecture and development start-up, has built a proof-of-stake protocol as it seeks to create a “better” Bitcoin, aka Bitcoin 2.0. The protocol, called “Ouroboros”, is a consensus algorithm designed to be a foundation for blockchains that “improve” user governance, system maintenance, transaction processing speeds and blockchain scalability. IOHK […]
Hong Kong-based tech accelerator Blueprint is calling out to the region and the world for start-up applicants.
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Philippines-based Ayannah, a provider of financial services to migrants and the unbanked, was the overall start-up winner in the Next Money Fintech Finals 2017 in Hong Kong.
Park and ride? A visit to the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and an opportunity for fintechs to ride the start-up wave.
Hong Kong is telling its citizens and the world that fintech start-ups are welcome to do business and capitalise on the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit.
Fintech zeitgeist! Welcome to the first in a new series of brief reports. Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. Anything goes, so here goes. Rome versus Carthage. Britain versus France. History shows […]
HSBC will unveil a new payment app in Hong Kong in early 2017 aimed at millennials and offering a social aspect in addition to just payments. Called PayMe, it is “available to everyone in Hong Kong”, regardless which local bank the customer uses. However, the small print says it is only eligible to users with […]
South Korea’s Shinhan Bank is launching a Bitcoin remittance service between Korea and China, with Hong Kong as an intermediary. The service will be available in December.
Eight start-ups and scale-ups in wealth management, regtech, artificial intelligence (AI), payments, big data, blockchain and cybersecurity are to take part in SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator 2.0.
Google has launched its Android Pay service in Hong Kong with support for MasterCard and Visa cards. It works with cards from BEA, DBS, Dah Sing Bank, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong. Users can add multiple cards and Google says there’s no limit to how many can be added. […]
Standard Chartered and SuperCharger are inviting applications from start-ups for its SuperCharger Fintech Accelerator 2.0. For the second year running, SuperCharger says it offers access to market entry resources, mentors, technology advice from industry experts and joint venture opportunities. The selection panel is looking for start-ups for supply chain and trade finance, wealth management, distributed […]
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is planning to launch a regulatory sandbox and innovation hub as part of ambitions to boost its fintech brand. At the Treasury Markets Summit 2016, jointly organised by the HKMA and the Treasury Markets Association (TMA), Norman Chan, chief executive of the HKMA, says it wants to build a […]
It’s all gone wrong in Hong Kong as about $72 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen from the Bitfinex exchange platform. Nearly 120,000 units have been pilfered making it the second-biggest security breach ever of such an exchange. Bitfinex is one of the largest exchanges for Bitcoin, and according to Reuters is known in the […]
Haitong International Securities Group has gone live with the second stage of the middle office revamp. The underlying tech is the Syn capital markets platform, provided by GBST, an Australia-based securities processing software vendor. Haitong signed for Syn last year and reported the first go-live in November. It has adopted the Syn platform as it […]
Kyc.com, a joint venture between Markit and Genpact, has announced the expansion of its Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance and diligence service to Hong Kong and Singapore. This roll out is in addition to jurisdictional coverage in the US, UK and Australia which it launched in 2014. A number of banks are already signed up […]
The London Stock Exchange has welcomed BOCI Securities as its first member from Hong Kong. BOCI Securities, a wholly owned subsidiary of BOC International Holdings, joins London Stock Exchange less than two months after regulatory approval was received from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission allowing Hong Kong firms to become members.
The Chinese renminbi continues to gain ground internationally as more banks adopt the currency, propelling its position into the top five global payment currencies worldwide, according to the latest batch of data from Swift.
The London Stock Exchange has obtained approval for Hong Kong companies to become members. Previously, only companies from the European Economic Area and Israel could join.
The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect link has made significant in-roads in the opening of China’s capital markets to international trading but barriers to participation, including restricted trading strategies, introduce risk and create operational complexity. The long-term success of the venture hinges on removing these barriers, according to a study carried out for the DTCC.
Japanese investment bank Daiwa Securities has transferred its Hong Kong business onto a new post-trade processing platform built by specialist vendor Torstone. The bank says the move is part of a long-term plan to revamp its back-office technology in the city, as Hong Kong steps up its role in the integration of China’s capital markets into the global mainstream.
Hong Kong’s share of the international Renminbi market has fallen over the past two years as other countries increase their share, which now stands at 25% compared to 17% in February 2013
Deutsche Börse, Eurex and the Bombay Stock Exchange have further extended their strategic cooperation offering connectivity services. Participants of BSE will be able to use Deutsche Börse’s resilient low latency N7 network services to connect to BSE back-ends in India through the Deutsche Börse access points in Hong Kong and Singapore.
A landmark deal between China’s Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges is set to open up unrestricted access to the China A-shares market to foreign investors for the first time, starting this month. The deal also reflects the rising internationalisation of the Chinese renminbi currency worldwide.
Hong Kong has become the second jurisdiction to sign up to use Swift’s Market Infrastructure Resiliency Service to improve operation of its real-time gross settlement system.
As the global banks grapple with tides of regulation, fines, and a myriad of other post-crisis issues, local Asian institutions are tooling up and stepping in to fill the gaps.
Standard Chartered Bank’s New York business has been ordered to suspend US dollar clearing services to retail clients of the bank in Hong Kong, following an investigation by the New York State Department which determined its transaction monitoring system does not meet anti-money laundering requirements.
China’s Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges are poised to build a major new link that will open up mainland China’s capital markets to foreign investors and vice versa.
Standard Chartered Hong Kong has opened its first ‘digital’ branch, in which customers are greeted by giant screen TVs, the bank’s mobile apps in a special experience zone, and QR code scanning on an iWall, as well as e-signature pads and virtual queuing.
National Australia Bank in Hong Kong has installed Thomson Reuters’ Eikon desktop across its trading floor in a move that the bank says will increase staff productivity and drive up cross-market communication.
