FSDC holds forum on careers in Fintech (with photos)
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The Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) and Hong Kong Baptist University today (October 18) jointly hosted a forum entitled "Fintech and the Future of Wealth Management" to give university students a better understanding of the job opportunities in the financial technology (Fintech) and wealth management sectors.
The forum was the 12th event under the FSDC Practitioner Speakers Series and featured the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Value Partners Group Ltd, Mr Lai Voon-san, and Adjunct Lecturer of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Mr Stephen Wong, who also serves as a member of the FSDC Marketing Development Committee.
Mr Lai, who has over 20 years of experience in the industry with research expertise in the telecommunications and technology sectors, pointed out that the financial services industry is rapidly embracing Fintech to solve daily problems in areas such as mobile trading, commodities markets, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, risk and compliance, security and privacy and digital wallets. Fintech innovates in a way that wealth managers cannot, and is delivering radical ideas to build, deliver, access and advance information technology infrastructure often with a common goal of improving the client experience, he said.
Mr Lai also said that Fintech can see where opportunities lie, noting that big data and analytics tools have the potential to underpin a new breed of real-time investment strategies that can deliver much more predictable and bespoke returns. In addition, he pointed out that technology can be an enabler in offering people access to services that were once out of their reach, from robo-advice to private banking and wealth management.
Having worked for a number of global financial institutions, Mr Wong said that technologies create both opportunities and challenges for the financial industry and the incumbent financial institutions. He said, "On the one hand, incumbent financial institutions would enhance their effectiveness with better technologies in security, operations and payment systems, but on the other hand, they have to face disruptive technologies that may create disintermediation."
He pointed out that professionals in the financial industry would also face ever-changing ways of competing as technologies change the way that business is done, including sales, trading, research, credit approvals, payment and settlements. Wealth management is no exception, he said, as technologies would help clients to deploy effective strategies for asset allocation and rebalancing, as well as securities selection.
The FSDC's Practitioner Speaker Series is a project developed between the FSDC and local universities, with speakers from the financial services industry giving talks to university students about important industry facts and the skill sets required in developing a career in financial services.
About the FSDC
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government established the FSDC in 2013 as a high-level, cross-sectoral advisory body to engage the industry in formulating proposals to promote the further development of Hong Kong's financial services industry and to map out the strategic direction for development.
The FSDC set up five committees, namely the Policy Research Committee, the Mainland Opportunities Committee, the New Business Committee, the Market Development Committee and the Human Capital Committee, as the five streams of its work.
Ends/Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:45
Issued at HKT 17:45
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