Advertisement

How fintech and AI will boost businesses, offer more affordable banking – and could help us ‘live’ forever

  • Online Hong Kong FinTech Week 2020, which featured more than 350 speakers and 500 exhibitors, attracted over 1.2 million viewers in November
  • Event inspired lively debate on humanising of technology and predictions of virtual banks as ‘new normal’ in five years and the future of cryptocurrencies

Paid Post:InvestHK
Reading Time:5 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
The virtual Hong Kong FinTech Week 2020 heard how humanising financial technology could improve the bottom line of businesses and also significantly enhance the lives of consumers. Photo: Shutterstock

Financial technology (fintech) and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to transform everything from managing risk, to boosting financial inclusion.

Advertisement

Industry leaders and investors at November’s Hong Kong FinTech Week 2020 discussed how humanising fintech could not only improve the bottom line of businesses but also significantly enhance the lives of consumers.

The fully virtual event held from November 2 to 6, which attracted over 1.2 million viewers and led to more than 18,000 business contacts being made, featured over 100 hours of content, more than 350 speakers and over 500 exhibitors, and 230 journalists and 29 delegations from more than 130 economies.

Better way to identify and meet people’s needs

Martin Lau, president of Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent, who spoke at one of the event’s sessions, predicted that within 10 years, every financial business will have become a fintech company because of the power of the technology.

Advertisement

He highlighted three core components that fintech provides: better engagement with consumers, increased connectivity with different parties in the ecosystem, and better use of data to gain customer insights and manage risk.

Lau told FinTech Week in a video pre-recorded in October that China’s vibrant fintech sector was the result of the lack of a dominant incumbent payment system, which had led to a rapid consumer take-up of mobile payments upon which additional services were being built.

Advertisement