26/08/22

HONG KONG: Jurisdiction Relatively Uncompetitive as Fintech Hub, says Google.

As published on finews.asia, Friday 26 August, 2022.

The majority of industry leaders see Hong Kong as a relatively uncompetitive fintech hub compared to markets elsewhere, according to a survey co-published by Google.

60 percent of senior industry executives see Hong Kong as being relatively uncompetitive compared to other fintech hubs, according to a survey jointly conducted by Google and financial consultancy Quinlan & Associates.

The city's costly, complex and time-consuming regulatory setup was cited by more than half of the respondents as a major hurdle. Around 64 percent also said they faced a "severe talent gap", most notably in product innovation, with intensifying competition from other hubs to secure manpower, especially during the pandemic.

In the coming year or two, the vast majority of respondents said that sales and marketing professionals were the top priority for hiring. Over 80 percent hoped to see more supportive policies from the Hong Kong government such as finech hiring subsidies.

The survey is based on interviews with 126 C-suite executives from early stage and late stage private fintech companies.