Fintech Association of Hong Kong Goes Live

I get by with a little help from my friends, or so the old song goes. The financial technology (fintech) field in Hong Kong, meanwhile, has a great new friend to call on in the Fintech Association of Hong Kong, a group devoted to improving the fintech field in the region and help drive what is already a steadily-growing community.

The new group has three main goals, spelled out in a recent release. The first is to serve as an advocate, a “unified voice” for Hong Kong’s nascent fintech operations. The second is to serve as a central clearinghouse for collaboration and similar efforts, bringing together the various parts of the community to help it better function as a larger whole force. Finally, the third is to educate, to bring in current market leaders to provide insight to those just getting started and give the entire community a leg up.

Managed by what amounts to a series of smaller committees, the association has a variety of key market focus points, including artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, mobile payments and more. With a set of volunteers handling leadership duties, the end result is to hopefully bring the fintech market together and help develop it into a larger, more powerful operation.

Foundation member and the current head of digital operations for retail banking and wealth management at HSBC Hong Kong Andrew Eldon, noted “Joining the Association gives us an opportunity to deepen our ties across the fintech landscape and contribute our time, resources and thinking to continue to shape Hong Kong’s financial future.”

With so much going on in fintech these days, it’s not surprising that some elements might think a more unified approach might mean a better press into the market. Sharing information and development resources could lead to some noteworthy new partnerships and product releases, so that would be a plus. It’s also possible that a kind of group-think could settle in, and that would be a problem for the overall field.

A bit of oversight against such a phenomenon might be enough to preserve the lead and keep this new association happy and prosperous going forward, and give us all access to new technology later. It’s not a magic bullet solution, but it could be a real winner.