Hong Kong must further boost fintech development to stay ahead of Singapore and other rivals, Cyberport CEO Peter Yan warns
- By leveraging its edge as global financial centre, city should make further inroads into financial technology, he says
- Hong Kong is making good headway into virtual banking and some other areas
Hong Kong risks being overtaken by rivals such as Singapore if the city, already seen as lagging in innovation, does not further develop its strengths in financial technology, the boss of Cyberport has warned.
Peter Yan King-shun, CEO of the government-owned technology flagship, said by leveraging its edge as a global financial centre, Hong Kong should make further inroads in branding fintech applications and solutions, quality assurance and cybersecurity as its next step in development.
Hong Kong was making good headway into virtual banking, insurance technology and regulatory technology, he added.
“Although the city is lagging behind in IT to some extent, we have led the market in fintech,” Yan said on Friday in his first interview since taking on the Cyberport job a year ago.
“If we don’t step up our development in this area, we could be overtaken by others such as Singapore.”