Hong Kong Towards a Leading Global FinTech Hub

100 101 Part II: Key Observations, Policy Implications and Recommended Actions for Hong Kong Opportunity 8 Observation: Nearly all universities in Hong Kong offer fintech-related undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. How to provide local students with the required fintech skills will be very significant to the future development of the fintech ecosystem. The fintech industry has expressed their concerns on the importance of hands-on experience for fintech graduates. Objective: To equip fintech students with the skills and knowledge that match the needs identified by the fintech industry. The fintech industry will become more visible and accessible to students and new graduates before they enter the job market. This initiative may help narrow the fintech talent gap in the future and sustain the fintech talent pipeline for Hong Kong. Recommended action: Create a compulsory internship scheme specific to fintech students to meet future market demand. Opportunity 9 Observation: Continued Education Fund (CEF) and Qualification Framework (QF) are readily available for fintech courses, but not all fintech courses are reimbursable under CEF and/or are registered under QF. Objective: A stronger certification link would attract more people to augment their fintech skills through participating in CEF courses that are registered under QF, and help meet local fintech talent market demand. Embedding internship opportunities for CEF students would give them the skills necessary to work in the fintech industry, which is especially beneficial for students who were originally working in different sectors. Recommended action: Establish a stronger certification link between Continued Education Fund (CEF), Qualification Framework (QF), and the internship scheme so as to offer on-the-job training opportunities to the existing workforce to help meet current market demand. Similar to other fintech hubs, recruiting from local universities is one of the major talent pipeline channels in Hong Kong. Almost all universities in Hong Kong offer fintech-related undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. 341 To cope with the growing fintech industry and to further narrow the talent gap, the fintech community has expressed the need for students to have first-hand experience in the industry. 342 Helping local students learn necessary skills is essential to the development of the fintech ecosystem. Further efforts are required to make the fintech industry more visible and accessible to students and new graduates before they enter the job market. The STEM Internship Scheme, which is coordinated by the Innovation and Technology Commission, provides innovation and technology (I&T) internship opportunities for undergraduates and postgraduates who are enrolled in a full-time STEM program. A broad definition of I&T has been adopted in the scheme so that increased numbers of students can receive internship opportunities from a range of jobs with I&T elements. 343 To establish a more robust fintech talent pipeline, we propose that a compulsory internship scheme specific to fintech students is created. This would not only result in companies having earlier access to talent and be able to train them according to their needs, it would also provide students and graduates with more opportunities to master the technical and soft skills required, and build career networks for their future. Unlike the optional STEM Internship Scheme, we suggest fintech students participate in a compulsory internship prior to graduation. All fintech and financial service companies would be encouraged to offer internship positions, and a government allowance could be provided to them. By evaluating the effectiveness of the STEM Internship Scheme, the fintech version could incorporate the best elements of the former and further capitalize on public resources for fintech industry development. The proposed scheme would facilitate even stronger connections between universities and the local fintech industry. Technology is changing the nature of work and is driving the demand for new and emerging skills. The World Economic Forum published the Future of Jobs Report 2020 and highlighted the pressing need for large scale reskilling of the workforce. According to the report, around 40% of workers will require reskilling, and over 90% of business leaders expect employees to pick up new skills on the jobs. 344 Being one of the world’s leading financial centers, Hong Kong is no exception. Effective government policies will help ensure that Hong Kong’s current fintech workforce has the skills to cope with the fast-changing global talent demand. According to the Talent Development Survey 2019 conducted by the Hong Kong Institution of Bankers, 97% of those surveyed believed that banking practitioners should enhance their fintech capabilities. 345 In addition, 47% of fintech companies agreed that the lack of proven job skills is the major challenge for talent recruitment. 346 In view of this, the Hong Kong government has launched various fintech upskill training programs to enrich the existing fintech talent pool. For example, the Cyberport Financial Practitioners Fintech Training Programme has received an overwhelming number of applications, reflecting the high demand for recognized fintech qualifications in the market. 347 In addition, the social distancing measures of 2020-21 have intensified the challenge of upskilling financial executives, as the digital transformation of the financial industry has come faster than expected. SMEs with insufficient resources and budgets will find it harder to upskill the financial skills of their personnel. 341. The University of Hong Kong (HKU), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), City University of Hong Kong (CityU), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) and the two private universities namely, the Hong Kong Shue Yan University (HKSYU) and the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (HSU) offer undergraduate degrees related to fintech. For postgraduate degrees, CUHK, CityU, HKUST, HKU and HKBU offer fintech masters programs and PolyU has launched the first doctoral degree in fintech in 2019. 342. Interview with The Advisory Board of the Fintech Research Project, dated 9 April 2021. 343. Innovation and Technology Commission. | STEM Internship Scheme. | https://www.itf.gov.hk/en/funding- programmes/nurturing-talent/stem-internship-scheme/ 344. World Economic Forum. | The Future of Job Reports 2020 (Oct 2020). | http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf 345. The Hong Kong Institute of Bankers. | Talent Development Survey 2019 (2019) | http://www.hkib.org/ pdf/1587977354_HKIB%20Talent%20Survey%202019%20Full%20report.pdf 346. Michael Page. | Hiring in Fintech – Survey and Dialogue. | https://www.michaelpage.com.hk/sites/michaelpage. com.hk/files/16785-hk_fintech_brochure_mp.v8.pdf 347. Over 2,000 people and over 49 institutions have registered in the Cyberport Financial Practitioners Fintech Training Programme. For details, please visit https://pages.cfte.education/cyberport-fintech-training