The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) jointly launched the Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme (FCAS) today (December 16) to nurture talents to meet the growing needs of fintech in Hong Kong. FCAS is supported by 11 banks and nine universities*. It aims to provide practical internship for undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in developing their careers in the fintech industry.
 
     The launching ceremony of FCAS took place today at the HKMA and was jointly hosted by the Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Norman Chan, , and the Chairman of ASTRI, Mr Wong Ming-yam. Officiating guests included senior executives of 11 banks and presidents or senior staff members of nine universities. As the first fintech internship scheme led by a regulatory authority and a research institute, banks and universities have joined force in developing talents for the fintech industry. Through training and cultivating talents, FCAS helps prepare the right workforce for the banking sector, provide an internship scheme to students that combines both academic theory and practice, and build bridges between academia and the industry to make university curricula more relevant to the needs of their future employers. FCAS aims to nurture the fintech ecosystem with talents in order to sustain its developments, ensuring Hong Kong’s competitiveness as an international finance centre.
 
     In his remarks, Mr Chan said, "Soft power is core to the development of an international financial centre, and having talents is the key. We must nurture sufficient local talents in the long term to ensure that the development of the fintech ecosystem is sustainable. The FCAS is a win-win initiative as it gives students the opportunities to gain practical experience with their knowledge, while allowing banks to source and identify talents for future employment."
 
     The Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI, Dr Franklin Tong, said in his remarks, "We can foresee strong demand for fintech talents and solutions especially given Hong Kong's global positioning as one of the top financial hubs, and also the meteoric growth of fintech in Mainland China. The FCAS is a collective effort amongst the HKMA, ASTRI, the participating banks and universities to nurture fintech talents - embracing the latest global trends and developments in fintech."
 
     Successful candidates will engage in a comprehensive internship with exposure to bank's fintech projects, as well as regulatory briefings and technical trainings provided by the HKMA and ASTRI respectively. Details of FCAS are:

• Number of openings: about 70 openings are offered by 11 participating banks.
• Types of fintech projects offered by banks: cybersecurity, distributed ledger technology, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, biometric authentication, mobile app development etc.
• Internship period: Starting from the summer of 2017 – for six months or one year.
• Disciplines: Undergraduates or postgraduates in Engineering, Computer Science, Science, Business and Finance, and Law.
• Selection process: Application opens tomorrow (December 17) and closes on February 4, 2017 and results will be announced by participating banks around the end of April after selection interviews.

     An Information Day has been scheduled on January 21, 2017 for students to obtain further information from the HKMA, ASTRI and the participating banks. Details of FCAS will be available at www.fcas.hk from tomorrow.
 
* Participating banks: Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bank of Communications Hong Kong Branch,  The Bank of East Asia, BNP Paribas Hong Kong, Citibank (Hong Kong), DBS Bank (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, ICBC (Asia), Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) and Wing Lung Bank. (in alphabetical order)

* Participating universities: City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University , Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Lingnan University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Open University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong. (in alphabetical order)

Ends/Friday, December 16, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:13

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