My teacher used to tell me that Hong Kong is an international financial centre. In a very competitive corporate environment, we enjoy economic success every day. However, Hong Kong is currently falling behind in the fintech revolution. Singapore seized the opportunity and moved ahead aggressively. The Singapore Government played an important role to lure the Fintech companies through incentives and regulations. The large client base of mainland China's fintech companies has allowed them to flourish in a way that Hong Kong's enterprises have not been able to.
Here is the challenge, without a doubt: Hong Kong's risk-averse mentality is preventing the fintech industry from progressing quickly enough. As an IT consultant, I've heard numerous people in the banking industry express concern about fintech innovations like blockchain, Bitcoin, and mobile payment disrupting their businesses. They are in danger of losing their jobs, while big companies are slipping behind and failing to adapt to change.
However, there is an option: Hong Kong boasts a large number of innovative and creative people. We have a broad group of thinkers, builders, and leaders on our team. We can put together fantastic teams to inspire and contribute to developing the world's best fintech scene. It's time to raise our awareness and reinvent what's possible when financial technology assists businesses in making a genuine positive change to the industry.
This, I believe, is the result: we are shepherding global financial technology toward humans, and the current legal sandbox policy allows companies to test their ideas in the market. These financial innovations have a positive impact on people's lives all across the world. Together, we'll employ fintech's language and tools to remake Hong Kong as the region's fintech commerce centre.