Another international banking group has entered the burgeoning fintech arena. Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited yesterday signaled its ongoing commitment to encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship by sponsoring the SuperCharger, a FinTech accelerator programme, with the aim of helping local and international early-stage and more established FinTech companies grow in Asia’s vibrant markets.
The SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator Programme is a first for Hong Kong to see a strategic group of founding partners from banking, internet technology and innovation join forces to back a homegrown business accelerator dedicated to supporting early-stage and more established businesses in taking the next step.
The partnership between Standard Chartered, one of Hong Kong’s three note-issuing banks, together with technology giant, Baidu, which dominates China’s internet search engine market, will enable participating technopreneurs to access expertise which covers the complete spectrum from traditional banking services to internet financial services. Leading technology and innovation hub, TusPark Global Network, brings over 20 years of expertise in the operation of technology parks and accelerator programmes, including successfully incubating 19 companies which have been publicly-listed.
Technopreneurs will be part of a structured curriculum and receive coaching and mentoring from Baidu’s technologists, Standard Chartered’s bankers as well as venture capitalists and industry experts to refine their business model, develop market entry strategies, navigate the regulatory landscape and identify joint ventures opportunities.
Standard Chartered’s Regional Chief Information Officer, Greater China and North Asia, Mr Ericson Chan, said: “Standard Chartered is proud to be a founding partner of this SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator Programme – continuing the Bank’s strong record of supporting and encouraging innovation which we believe is a key driver of economic growth and prosperity. Hong Kong’s vibrant international financial ecosystem as well as strategic location as a gateway to China, one of the world's largest FinTech market opportunities, makes it the perfect place to co-create the future of financial services with technopreneurs at the intersection of finance and technology.”
This initiative builds upon Standard Chartered’s commitment to supporting business esusing innovation and new technologies, some recent examples include:
- Standard Chartered Private Equity made a strategic investment in China’s online peer-to-peer lending platform, Dianrong.com.
- Working with the authorities of Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park (China’s Silicon Valley) to create a positive financing environment for the most promising start-ups by helping to address their funding needs, as well as help the companies to establish credit records. The partnership will support entrepreneurs to grow internationally by enabling better access to trade financing, forex management and cash flow management.
- Supporting the Technology Incubator for Women Entrepreneurs programme, an initiative with City College New York’s Zahn Innovation Center, that is targeted at early-stage start-ups by female student entrepreneurs. The partnership aims to encourage entrepreneurship among female students by providing support, guidance, and resources needed to support start-ups, and in doing so benefiting economic development in New York City and beyond.
The programme will commence on the 11 January 2016 at Tuspark Global Network’s dedicated FinTech innovation hub in Hong Kong. Selected businesses will have the chance to explore cross-pollination of ideas between other verticals such as IoT, media and hardware, located within this world-class innovation hub. The programme concludes on the 8 April 2016 with a demo day in Hong Kong.
