The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) announced today (January 6) that the Fintech Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme (PoC Scheme) will open for application from February 26. 
 
     The PoC Scheme aims to encourage traditional financial institutions to partner with fintech companies to conduct PoC projects on innovative financial services products.
 
     The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, said, "The ever-developing field of fintech has brought more diverse and convenient financial services to society. The pandemic has also spurred wide adoption of fintech. As an international financial centre, Hong Kong is an excellent place to groom one's fintech business.
 
     "Through the PoC Scheme, we hope that the fintech sector will grasp the opportunity to proactively put forth and test various innovative and practical fintech solutions and products, especially in areas that are increasingly mainstream and related to daily economic activities and people's livelihood, such as regtech, trade financing, cross-boundary/border payments and robo-advisory, so as to bring Hong Kong's financial services sector to a new level," Mr Hui added.
 
     Under the PoC Scheme, each approved PoC project will be provided a maximum direct one-off grant of up to $100,000.  Deserving PoC projects with greater complexity and broader usage, such as those involving cross-sector or cross-boundary/border applications (e.g. involving the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area or Association of Southeast Asian Nations) may receive a grant of up to $150,000. Financial institutions may provide additional financial resources for the subsidised PoC projects. The Government has earmarked $10 million for the scheme.  
 
     Applications must be submitted by a Hong Kong-registered company which has a fixed physical office in Hong Kong and with its main business being in the fintech field (please refer to the Annex), jointly with a financial institution regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Securities and Futures Commission, the Insurance Authority and/or the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority. The PoC project must address practical issues faced by the financial institution concerned with no prior used case in the market.
 
     The FSTB has appointed Cyberport to administer the PoC Scheme. Applications may be submitted via the Cyperport website (pocsubsidy.cyberport.hk) from February 26 till June 30. Cyperport will publish details such as application procedures, supporting documents required, etc, on its website in due course.

Ends/Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Issued at HKT 10:00

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