Hong Kong government has ‘not been bold enough’ in nurturing fintech development, says WeLab Bank chairman, former finance secretary Chan Ka-keung

The government needs to play a more active role in nurturing financial technology development to maintain Hong Kong’s position as a financial hub, said Chan Ka-keung, the WeLab virtual bank chairman and former Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury.

“The government needs to be bold. They have not been bold enough in fostering technology development in Hong Kong,” said Chan during a panel discussion at the South China Morning Post’s Redefining Hong Kong Series on Wednesday.

“Hong Kong has to be a fintech hub; if you are not a fintech hub you will no longer play any role in finance in the next decade.

“Every financial centre has to be a fintech hub. Today, fintech is part of the finance environment. There is no way you cannot use technology, artificial intelligence, data to improve financial services. Fintech is already very much ingrained in every financial centre.”

The discussion, titled “Asia’s fintech hub – Hong Kong’s future as the region’s financial centre”, focused on the development of the city’s fintech sector and the need to nurture and attract talent.

Speakers at the panel session said the city’s regulators must be bold and adventurous in pushing for the development of the sector, while being mindful of the need to protect consumer interests at the same time.

The government and regulators were also urged to develop a mechanism to help retool people in the financial services sector in Hong Kong so they can leverage their expertise to launch start-ups.

“We need people who actually want to be in the technology area. Universities and educational institutions like the Vocational Training Council have to be very serious about educating and training up tech talents,” said Chan.