(Translation)
The HKMA’s office was bustling with activity yesterday afternoon. As I passed by the 56th floor, it was very crowded. I learnt from colleagues of the Financial Infrastructure Development Division that the Fintech O2O (online-to-offline) Meetup was being held. The event was co-organised by the HKMA and Cyberport, and was the first of a series of industry liaison events organised by the HKMA’s Fintech Facilitation Office (FFO) since its establishment in March. As one of the specially-assigned “Observers”, I of course had to fulfil my role and “observe” the event.
When I entered the auditorium on 56th floor, the Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Norman Chan, was delivering a welcome speech. I quickly found a seat and listened to what he said.
Mr Chan said that one of the three main missions of the FFO was to provide a platform for liaison among the Fintech industry practitioners, users, investors and regulators. The HKMA would partner with Cyberport and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park to organise more events of this kind in the future. For example, the HKMA would invite Fintech users, including banks, to present their needs to Fintech solution companies with a view to exploring in what way Fintech might be able to help; or the other way round – letting Fintech players present their ideas to potential users.
The theme of this Meetup was cybersecurity which dovetailed with the Cybersecurity Fortification Initiative (CFI) introduced by the HKMA last month. Some 200 participants attended the event, mainly from the Fintech and banking sectors, cybersecurity and information technology firms, government departments, etc.
I heard that the response to the first Fintech O2O Meetup was very encouraging.
A quota of two seats was allocated to each organisation, but some organisations indicated that the quota was certainly not enough! Due to the limited capacity of the auditorium, we apologise for not being able to invite more people to attend.
Indeed, as all the seats in the auditorium were taken up, we had to arrange for live broadcast of the function in another conference room on the same floor. This makeshift arrangement, however, had not dampened the enthusiasm of participants, who listened attentively to experts sharing the latest trends in and their insight into cybersecurity, and also proactively participated in Q&A session.
An interactive function like this certainly will not fall short of networking. After the formal part of the event, participants took the opportunity to exchange business cards and have engaging conversations with each other.
I also heard that following the establishment of the FFO, my colleagues have been busy organising various activities, putting in place the CFI and handling numerous enquiries from various stakeholders, in the hope of contributing to the development of Fintech in Hong Kong. I will surely continue to keep close tabs on the latest development of the FFO and share with you again in due course.
Written by Mina, one of the two specially-assigned ‘Observers’ who goes around the HKMA office in IFC, Central, collecting interesting facts and sharing them with you from time to time.
16 June 2016