Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui today led representatives from the securities and investment industry to visit Cyberport to learn about the latest developments in the financial technology (fintech) area.

They met Cyberport Chief Executive Officer Peter Yan before being introduced to four startups which have just been approved to receive subsidies under the Fintech Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme.

The startups Alphalion, iFinGate, iDDY and Lora Technologies presented their leading technologies applicable to aspects like clearing and settlement for securities firms, artificial intelligence (AI) analytics, know-your-customer and AI investment management platforms.

They also exchanged views on project details and their applications.

Mr Hui said his bureau engaged Cyberport at the end of February to administer the proof-of-concept scheme. It received more than 80 applications, 54 of which were approved.

Involving a total grant of around $6.1 million, the approved projects cover regtech, wealthtech, payment systems, insurtech and open application programming interfaces for the banking sector.

There were also cross-sector as well as cross-boundary applications between Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area or Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states.

Noting that applications for phase two of the scheme will close on June 30, Mr Hui appealed to the industry to seize the opportunity to put forth and test innovative and practical fintech solutions and products to expand their businesses.

The scheme encourages financial institutions to partner with fintech companies to conduct proof-of-concept projects on innovative financial services products.

Each approved project will be awarded a maximum direct one-off grant of up to $100,000 or $150,000.