WeLab chairman Chan Ka-keung called out the Hong Kong government for its lack of boldness and underscored the crucial need for the city to become a fintech hub lest it wishes to have no relevance in finance.
«The government needs to be bold. They have not been bold enough in fostering technology development in Hong Kong,» said Chan at a recent «SCMP» event.
Chan, who is also the former finance secretary for Hong Kong, explained how fintech is already ingrained in every financial center and that there was no avoiding the likes of artificial intelligence or big data to improve the services in the sector.
«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.»
Talent a Key Hurdle
One of the key obstacles facing fintech development in Hong Kong is the lack of talent and multiple speakers at the event highlighted the issue. Chan stressed that Hong Kong cannot be too reliant on talent from other Greater Bay Area locations, like Shenzhen, and urged local institutions like the Vocational Training Council to take tech talent development seriously.
Whilst recent unrest in Hong Kong has undoubtedly scarred the city’s reputation for world class safety and will likely cause foreign talent to think twice, this has actually sparked an opportunity to focus on local talent, said another respondent.
“It is a problem. But this is actually the best time for us to train our own people on technology,» said Edith Yeung, managing partner at blockchain venture-capital fund Proof of Capital.
«Whatever role or brand we want Hong Kong to be, we need to stand up for ourselves and train our own people. The outside world may see Hong Kong as a dangerous place for a few more months or even a year, but this is the time for us as Hongkongers to really build ourselves up and have an identity to the world to attract more people to come.»
