Hong Kong Two Decades: Financial center vows to grow fintech

By CGTN’s Cyrus Ip

Hong Kong is more known for its financial expertise than technological innovations. So with studies showing the city lagging competitors on financial technology, or fintech, what are the city's entrepreneurs doing about it?

TNG is an e-wallet and payment system developed by a Hong Kong fintech company, which mainly serves people living in Hong Kong.

Since its launch in late 2015, TNG has been the most popular e-wallet locally, having been downloaded more than 600,000 times.

Alex Kong, founder of TNG, attributes the success to a sound regulatory foundation.

Screenshots of TNG Wallet app, which allows instant money transfer in 12 countries. /CGTN Photo

“Just 18 months ago, the Hong Kong government introduced a new law to govern the e-wallet and fintech development; It has a good legal framework to protect the interest of consumers, which is very important but not very common in other neighboring countries,” said Kong.

Kong also noted that TNG is an e-wallet designed for everyday life in Hong Kong, which makes it competitive facing Octopus, Hong Kong’s long-standing cashless payment system, and Alipay, Chinese mainland’s dominant and the world's leading mobile payment platform.

Alibaba’s e-wallet Alipay is already working with stores and shopping centers in Hong Kong. /VCG Photo

Cyberport is a tech-focused industrial park owned by the government of the Special Administration Region (SAR), which believes in Hong Kong's appeal for fintech talent and has been nurturing the sector's startups as its latest mission.

“Almost all of these talents are from China, everyone I’ve seen so far wants to go global and go on the Belt and Road. We’ve been talking about the digital silk road, and they are doing it. And they all have one common point – they love Hong Kong, they feel that Hong Kong is the best springboard for them to go global,” said Lee Goerge Lam, chairman of Cyberport.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched a new set of regulation last September to provide “Sandboxie” to the region’s players in the fintech field and encourage innovations. Chen Delin, head of bureau, said that companies would be able to try out new products and services without standing by regular restrictions. /VCG Photo

The Hong Kong government has also been very active recently to put in more resources to help grow fintech.

Lam said the government momentum is really strong in terms of regulations, as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has set up the Fintech Facilitation Office (FFO), and also an industry-wide Fintech Steering Committee, to fuel the development.

While these initiatives are yet to bear fruit, Hong Kong's innovation ranking lags behind regional peers like Singapore, making research and developing another area that deserves more government investment.

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