On January 15th, 2017, the Canadian Consulate of Hong Kong brought the top 6 Canadian Fintech companies from Canada to Hong Kong to learn about the local markets, develop key business contacts, meet with institutions and regulatory bodies, and tour HK’s newest Fintech centers. It was a great experience full of networking, pitching, partnerships, and how our Katipult solution can be applied to this dynamic market.
Our experience in Hong Kong included the Asia Financial Forum (AFF), Fintech 020 International, HK Cyberport Smart-Space Fintech Centre, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, and many others. Three key themes emerged which will have very impactful implications for the investment crowdfunding and peer to peer lending markets in Asia and worldwide.
- Hong Kong regulators are open to work with investment platforms targeting high net worth investors. While there isn’t a clearly defined framework in place to follow, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong is welcoming firms to present their models and technology targeting professional investors. Katipult will be assisting firms using our extensive experience entering new markets in order to provide best practices for the regulators and industry stakeholders in HK.
- The implementation of BlockChain technology into Fintech products and services is imminent in Asia. Worldwide the industry is speculating the great innovation disruption that BlockChain technology will bring into the financial services industry but there are very few cases of firms actually using it at present. The first platform to successfully introduce BlockChain in an effective manner will be a winner in Asia. Blockchain is expected to bring a much higher level of security and prevention of cybercrime, while providing a highly accurate ledger system for investor and issuers transactions including secondary markets, share transfers, document signatures, payments, and repayments.
- Mainland China is providing a preview of the investment industry going mobile. Another trend happening in Asia is mobile lending - very data driven, highly personalized, and instantly delivered. The competitive advantage in low operating costs combined with efficiency and scalability can propose a real threat to banks. There is definitely a leapfrog of technology in China that is allowing the country to advance much faster from normal web to mobile solutions.
