Fintech, training subsidy schemes set

August 10, 2022
Young talent
Young talent:

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui (fourth right) meets young entrepreneurs of fintech startups at Cyberport.

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui today toured Cyberport to keep abreast of the latest fintech developments and announced the launch of a new round of the Fintech Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme and the Pilot Scheme on Training Subsidy for Fintech Practitioners.

 

Mr Hui visited the fintech startups and enterprises supported and nurtured by Cyberport and gained first-hand experience of the practical application of fintech products developed by the enterprises.

 

He then exchanged views with the startups' young entrepreneurs to learn how they apply fintech to provide convenient and reliable financial services to the public in areas such as virtual banking, digital assets, wealth management, customer due diligence as well as trading at small and medium-sized enterprises.

 

Mr Hui said the Government attaches great importance to fintech development and has been encouraging financial institutions to collaborate with fintech enterprises to promote digitalisation of financial services.

 

He was also pleased to see that many local startups have successfully developed innovative and practical fintech solutions, which have made important contributions in driving financial inclusion.

 

“Some enterprises have expanded their services to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as well as Southeast Asia. It is encouraging to see their flourishing development.”

 

The treasury chief added that the Government will continue to work closely with the industry and launch diverse measures to support fintech development in Hong Kong, with a view to supporting continuous innovation in the financial industry and enhancing the nurturing of fintech talent.

 

The new round of the Fintech Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme, commissioned by the Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau and administered by Cyberport, will expand its coverage to provide funding for research institutions in addition to local fintech companies.

 

Participating institutions must partner with financial institutions to put forward and test innovative and practical fintech solutions that are not yet available in the market. The subsidy for each approved project will be increased from $100,000 to $150,000.

 

The grant may be up to $200,000 for projects involving cross-boundary applications or applications in emerging areas including regtech, technical solutions related to federated learning, open application programming interfaces as well as environment, social and governance.

 

For projects that have a broader impact on the industry and can provide solutions to its bottleneck issues, the grant may be up to $400,000.

 

Meanwhile, the first batch of fintech professional qualifications recognised under the Qualifications Framework for banking practitioners is expected to be rolled out in September.

 

In view of this, the bureau, in collaboration with the Monetary Authority and the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers, will launch the Pilot Scheme on Training Subsidy for Fintech Practitioners with an aim of promoting the professional development of fintech talent and expanding the fintech talent pool in Hong Kong.

 

Under the scheme, practitioners who have attained fintech professional qualifications can receive reimbursement for 80% of the tuition fees subject to a ceiling of $25,000. Around 1,500 places will be offered.

 

Application details of the two schemes will be announced by Cyberport and the institute in due course.

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