Hong Kong's Fintech Watershed
In its latest report on Hong Kong banking KPMG says that 2018 will be the year financial technology goes mainstream in the territory.
KPMG’s 2018 Hong Kong Banking Outlook points out that a stabilising market environment in 2017 and a number of upcoming opportunities, particularly for fintech, is set to provide a strong foundation for Hong Kong’s banks.
Closer collaboration between financial institutions and fintech firms is expected in 2018, as banks continue to seek to digitize and adopt advanced technologies to improve their product and service offerings and increase efficiency, KPMG predicts.
The coming year will see a number of positive initiatives and developments the report highlights. These include a single point of entry for piloting trials of fintech products by linking the sandboxes between the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Securities and Futures Commission and the Insurance Authority.
Two Fintechs Are Better Than One
Banks in Hong Kong are also assessing the use of robotics to automate processes, streamline operations and increase efficiency, primarily throughout their back and middle office functions. The emergence of open banking is also expected to further promote innovation and collaboration between banks and fintech firms.
Another channel that will potentially expedite financial technology adoption in Hong Kong came after the long time competitive edge between Hong Kong and Singapore to be viewed as the leading financial hub in Asia was finally put to rest this year - kind of.
The two wealth centres finally got around to signing a co-operation agreement maybe thinking two heads are better than one or perhaps to push back against the overwhelming Chinese fintech tsunami sweeping all before it.
