Hong Kong, pegged as the most free economy in the world, has seen a consistent growth in fintech companies. It remains to be one of the best markets for the industry within Asia at par with Singapore and India.
Investments in fintech grew steadily from US$107.5 million in 2015 to US$215.5 million in 2016 to US$545.7 million in 2017, and the number of mainland deals went up from 54 in 2016 to 146 last year.
WeLab – a mobile lending company – raised US$220 million in November and was the highest fund raised by a single fintech in 2017.
The fintech ecosystem in Hong Kong is supported by a free market that remains open to talent and investments due to the presence of excellent accelerators such as SuperCharger, and associations that work for the fintech community such as the FinTech Association of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) maintains a progressive regulatory environment that allows for innovation with a dedicated fintech sandbox and supportive regulations. Access to the mainland China market is also a key trait of the HK fintech scene, while Hong Kong itself continues to remain a global finance centre.
Syed Musheer Ahmed, one of our top 50 influencers in Hong Kong, in an interview with the South China Morning Post shared what makes Hong Kong an important centre of fintech:
“Banks went from being sceptical about fintech, to realising it can be beneficial to them. Following on from this, they moved from reviewing proofs of concept to actual implementation and adoption of fintech solutions, meaning start-ups now have a steadier revenue stream, making them more attractive.
“Secondly, the Hong Kong government and regulators now have a more active agenda to push for innovation across sectors, as highlighted in the 2018 budget speech, particularly in fintech.”
LATTICE80 in its continuing series of reports aims to identify key people that contribute to the Fintech industry as influencers through action. We present our latest list of top 50 fintech influencers in Hong Kong whom you must follow to keep in the know of latest developments and trends in the industry.
In case you think we have missed someone or wish to suggest a correction, please email satyarth@lattice80.com.
| HongKong FintechInfluencer | Name | Title | Company | |
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Adrian Gostick | Managing Director & Chief Revenue Officer | BondIT |  |
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Alex Medana | Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder | FinFabrik | |
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Alokik Advani | Managing Director – Head of Principal Strategic Investments, APAC | Goldman Sachs | |
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Andrew Eldon | Head of Digital – Hong Kong | HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management | |
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Antony Morris | Managing Director | Industrie&Co | |
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Audrey Wong | COO & CFO | Quantifeed | |
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Benedicte Nolens | Former Senior Director, Head of Risk & Strategy | Securities and Futures Commission | |
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Benjamin Quinlan | CEO & Managing Partner | Quinlan & Associates | |
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Byron Wong | Head of Robo-Advisory | Yunfeng Financial Group | |
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Charles d’Haussy | Head of FinTech | Invest Hong Kong | |
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Charlotte Miu | Head of Hong Kong | LATTICE80 | |
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Cindy Chow | Executive Director | Alibaba Entrepreneurs Hong Kong Fund | |
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Douglas Arner | Kerry Holdings Professor in Law | The University of Hong Kong | |
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Duncan Wong | CEO and Founder | CryptoBLK | |
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Florian Matthaeus Spiegl | Co-Founder & COO | FinFabrik | |
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George Harrap | CEO | Bitspark | |
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Henri Arslanian | Chairman | FinTech Association of Hong Kong | |
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Hugh Madden | CTO | Equichain | |
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Jakub Zakrzewski | International Expansion General Manager | Revolut | |
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James Lloyd | Partner; Asia-Pacific FinTech & Payments Leader | EY | |
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Janos Barberis | Founder | SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator | |
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Jehan Chu | Co-Founder, Managing Partner | Kenetic | |
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Jim Lai | General Manager | Tencent Holdings | |
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Jonathan Larsen | Chief Innovation Officer | Ping An Group Inc. | |
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Karen Farzam | Co-Founder | W Hub | |
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Leiming Chen | General Counsel & Senior Vice President | Ant Financial Services Group | |
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Leonhard Weese | President | The Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong | |
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Maaike Steinebach | CEO Hong Kong Branch and MD IB&M Hong Kong | Commonwealth Bank | |
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Maggie Ng | Founder & CEO | FinEx Asia | |
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Matt Dooley | Founder and Managing Director | Connected Thinking Ltd | |
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Maxine Ryan | Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer | Bitspark | |
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Medhy Souidi | Director – Project Management | Privé Technologies | |
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Melissa Guzy | Managing Partner and Founder | Arbor Ventures | |
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Mikaal Abdulla | Co-founder and CEO | 8 Securities | |
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Nelson Chow | Chief Fintech Officer | Hong Kong Monetary Authority | |
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Nelson McKey | Head of Fintech Solutions, Asia | Sun Life Financial | |
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Pindar Wong | Chairman | VeriFi | |
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Ricardo Medrano López | Director of Partnerships for Hong Kong & Australia | NEM Foundation | |
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Ron Savino | Founder | Asia Fintech Angels | |
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Sam Allen | CEO | CompareAsiaGroup | |
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Simon Loong | Founder & CEO | WeLab | |
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Steve Monaghan | Chairman & CEO | Gen.Life Limited | |
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Sunny Cheung | Chief Executive Officer | Octopus Holdings Limited | |
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Syed Musheer Ahmed | General Manager | FinTech Association of Hong Kong | |
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Ting Li | CEO | Yunfeng Financial Group | |
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Venetia Lee | General Manager, Alipay Hong Kong, Macau & Taiwan | Ant Financial | |
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Veronika Kuznetsova | Managing Director | SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator |
|
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William Chu | Managing Director | SparkLabs Global Ventures | |
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Xu Li | Co-founder and CEO | SenseTime | |
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Yosha Gupta | Consultant – Digital Payments & Financial Inclusion | IFC, World Bank Group | |
Last updated on 10th July, 2018
