FinTech Olympiad 2023 Inspires Tertiary Students to Leverage Fintech to Create Social Impacts, Creating Solutions to Transform People’s Lives and Business Practice for the Better

Vision Carbon by CityU Won Gold Medal with its Blockchain-based Carbon Trading Platform

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 29 May 2023 – Hosted by the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and supported by HSBC, the FinTech Olympiad (FTOL) 2023 competition convening 94 teams across 18 universities from cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) was concluded with an award ceremony on 27 May. In the final pitch round, 20 finalist teams pitched their financial technology-enabled business solutions to a panel of industry leaders. Vision Carbon, a team from the City University of Hong Kong won the Gold Medal and “The Best Cross-Border FinTech Solution” award with its blockchain-based project aimed to enhance the transparency, verifiability and traceability of carbon credit trading across the GBA. Vision Carbon’s solution proposed to ease carbon offsets for both businesses and individuals.

Speaking at the ceremony today, Dr Isabel Yan, Associate Professor, Department of Economics & Finance, CityU remarked, “City U takes pride in organising the fourth FinTech Olympiad. Through the programme, FTOL is aimed to help students from all disciplines equip themselves with FinTech savviness and build industry connections that can enhance their competitiveness and employability, from a career development perspective. We encourage the younger generation to get prepared for being the key driver of the auspicious FinTech trend.”

Ms. Charlotte Wong, Chief Information Officer, Hong Kong, HSBC said, “As a ‘super-connector’ between Hong Kong and the world, HSBC is committed to playing a vital role in pushing forward fintech development in Hong Kong. We are proud to support the Fintech Olympiad which enables our future generations to pave the way for their career development in fintech. It is great to see how well this year’s participants across the GBA apply innovative ideas to address real life social needs. They have won themselves an entry ticket to the global fintech arena. Congratulations to all the awardees.”

The FinTech Olympiad is a 10-month active learning programme, comprising of training, project-based competition and networking events aimed at equipping students and driving opportunities to fit their aspirations. Over 1,400 students from 20 tertiary institutions in the GBA applied to join the training sessions, a 230% increase from last year.

The competition was designed to encourage university students to work out solutions that can address social and economic problems encountered in our everyday life by applying their fintech knowledge and skills. 20 finalist teams were selected among 94 team entrants and were supported by mentors from a range of backgrounds. The finalist teams presented their solutions to a judging panel composed of industry leaders in a real-life business world setting. Their proposals were evaluated based on criteria including problem-solving, social impacts, innovation, thoughtfulness and leadership and communication.

The winning teams (see the list of awardees) will receive prize money and industry support from HSBC, internship opportunities from the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and CityU HK Tech 300 funding possibilities to further develop their projects.

ASTRI and Hong Kong Digital Asset Society (HKDAS) are strategic partners of the FTOL, organising training workshops, meetup events and experts’ sharing sessions for participants.

List of Awardees of Fintech Olympiad 2023 Competition

Fireside Chat: Leveraging FinTech to Create Social Impacts

Experts were invited to give a Fireside chat at the ceremony. Ms. Amy Hui, Head of Customer Lifecycle Management (CLCM), Retail Banking and Wealth Management, HSBC, Mr. Alan Cheung, Senior Director, Trust and AI Technologies, Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and award-winning music producer and singer-song writer Mr. Hanjin Tan, from Hong Kong Digital Asset Society (HKDAS) shared their views and insights on how to leverage financial technology to create positive social impacts.

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FinTech Olympiad

FinTech Olympiad (FTOL), hosted by the City University of Hong Kong and supported by HSBC, is an active learning programme designed to empower and inspire young FinTech talents and to promote connections among the FinTech communities in the GBA. FTOL provides a series of training, a project-based competition and networking opportunities that equip post-secondary students in the GBA with FinTech knowledge, skills and connections that can enhance their competitiveness and employability and help them surf the auspicious FinTech trend.

City University of Hong Kong

Located in the heart of Hong Kong, CityU has a well-earned reputation as an innovative hub for research and professional education and for addressing global issues and empowering positive change.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited is the founding member of the HSBC Group. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 62 countries and territories. With assets of US$2,990bn at 31 March 2023, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations.