Rival Cities Hong Kong and Singapore Join Forces for Fintech

Hong Kong and Singapore, which have vied for supremacy as financial technology hubs over the past couple of years, have now decided to join forces, according to Bloomberg.

The cities’ central banks have signed a fintech cooperation agreement that will foster collaboration on business referrals, joint innovation projects, information sharing and the exchange of expertise, Norman Chan, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said. The first joint project will be on trade finance, Chan said in a speech to open the HKMA Fintech Day.

The HKMA event is part of the Hong Kong Fintech Week, which organizers say is expected to attract more than 3,000 executives. Singapore holds its fintech festival on Nov. 13-17. Last year, both cities held similar conferences within a week of each other.

Financial technology has added a new dimension to the decades-old tussle between Singapore and Hong Kong for the position as Asia’s premier financial center, with both cities throwing hundreds of millions of dollars to help fund startups and build ecosystems conducive to innovation.

Fintech investments in Asia are poised to set a fresh record this year, according to a CB Insights report released this month. Venture capital-backed startups raised more than $5 billion in 2017 through September, closing in on last year’s $6.3 billion, data from the research firm show.