Hong Kong Towards a Leading Global FinTech Hub

58 59 Business Environment Part I: Examination of Seven Fintech Hubs London is also home to many international fintech conferences, notably many blockchain meetings such as the London Blockchain Week which welcomed more than 3,000 participants in 2019. 182 Fintech Week London also had over 2,500 participants in the same year. The city hosted at least 20 other fintech conferences in 2019. 183 There are two well-organized industry associations stationed in London. Innovate Finance is a London-based, independent association that represents the UK’s global fintech community. It has more than 250 international member companies that span wide ranges of financial services and fintech solutions, from seed funding stage startups, global financial institutions, investors, professional services firms and global fintech hubs. It is also the organizer of London’s flagship fintech events, UK FinTech Week and Innovate Finance Global Summit. In partnership with the Department for International Trade, FinTech Alliance is another association that brings together the fintech community in the UK and connects them with the global fintech ecosystem. Fintech Alliance is the first community-driven platform in the UK’s fintech industry for both fintech startups and investors. Its Fintech Alliance Investment Hub is the only regulated fintech investment hub in the UK. 184 Zurich According to the IFZ FinTech Study 2019, 185 Zurich has the second-largest potential worldwide for entrepreneurship, innovation and fintech, only behind Singapore, but ahead of London, New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. Although there are less than ten fintech accelerators and incubators in Zurich, 186 some including the F10, Kickstart Accelerator, Swiss Technology Fund and Venture Kick are connecting their startups to international markets. Zurich does not host many international events, with the most representative industry event being the Swiss Fintech Awards , which is regarded as one of the most significant accolades in the fintech sector. The industry is represented by several independent associations that provide support, networking opportunities, government liaisons, and an international reach for the diverse group of entrepreneurs, startups, investors, corporates, and other stakeholders in the Swiss fintech sector. New York and San Francisco The US continues to be a catalyst for global fintech growth, with total investment activity 187 of US$75.9bn in 2020. 188 The country organizes some of the biggest and most anticipated fintech conferences, providing many opportunities for US companies to attract investors from around the world. Both New York and San Francisco are hotspots for a number of well-known international conferences. 182. Innovation Matrix. | London Blockchain Week 2019 (Feb 2019). | https://www.innovationmatrix.com/event/ london-blockchain-week-2019 183. Fintechnews Switzerland. | 24 Fintech Events in London to Attend in 2019 (Feb 2019). | https://fintechnews.ch/ london/fintech-events-conferences-london-2019/25354/ 184. Fintech Alliance. | FinTech Alliance Investment Hub. | https://fintech-alliance.com/investment-hub 185. Ankenbrand, T., Dietrich, A., & Bieri, D. (2019). | IFZ FinTech Study 2019: An Overview of Swiss FinTech. | https:// blog.hslu.ch/retailbanking/files/2019/03/IFZ-FinTech-Study-2019_Switzerland.pdf 186. StartupBlink. | Map and Directory of Startup Accelerators in Zurich, Switzerland (2021). | https://www. startupblink.com/accelerators/zurich+switzerland 187. Investment activities include venture capital (VC), private equity (PE) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). 188. KPMG. | Pulse of Fintech H2’20 (Feb 2021). https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2021/02/pulse-of- fintech-h2-2020.pdf 189. Coindesk. | How We’re Raising the Virtual Bar at Consensus: Distributed (May 2020). | https://www.coindesk . com/consensus-distributed-2020-virtual-conference-explainer 190. CBinsights. | Future of Fintech 2020 (2020). | https://events.cbinsights.com/future-of-fintech 191. Finext Conference USA. | Finext Conference USA (2020). | http://usa.finextcon.com/ 192. Findexable. | Findexable Global Fintech Rankings 2020 (2019). | https://findexable.com/wp-content/ uploads/2019/12/Findexable_Global-Fintech-Rankings- 2020exSFA.pdf 193. Findexable. | Findexable Global Fintech Rankings 2020 (2019). | https://findexable.com/wp-content/ uploads/2019/12/Findexable_Global-Fintech-Rankings- 2020exSFA.pdf 194. CBINSIGHTS. | The Complete List of Unicorn Companies (As at May 2021). | https://www.cbinsights.com/ research-unicorn-companies As “the City that Never Sleeps”, New York is the host of some of the biggest fintech conferences, including LendIt Fintech, Empire Fintech Conference, New York Fintech Week, and Consensus , which is the most prominent fintech event of the city with attendance growth from 500 to 4,700 attendees from 2015 to 2019. 189 New York’s range of fintech accelerators is expansive, and spanning all fintech disciplines. Some of the representative ones include Barclays Accelerator, Accenture Fintech Innovation Lab, Citi Innovation Labs, Mastercard Labs, JP Morgan Chase Financial Solutions Lab, and the FinTech Innovation Lab New York . San Francisco hosts several international fintech events such as Future of Fintech , 190 Blockchain Expo North America, Finovate Spring Conference, and FiNext Conference & Expo USA , 191 which are well attended by top industry leaders numbering in the hundreds. Around eight fintech accelerators and incubators, including the well-known 500 Startups and Y-Combinator , are available in the city. 192 In 2019, fintech investment in San Francisco reached US$3bn across 80 deals. 193 The city is also the largest fintech unicorn capital in the world, housing 18 fintech unicorns in the city: Stripe, Plaid Technology, Ripple, Brex, SoFi, Zenefits, Gusto, Blend, Kraken, Tradeshift, Carta, Collective Health, Deel, Figure Technologies, Pilot.com, Upgrade, Qualia and Flutterwave . 194 New unicorns are emerging every year, indicating steady growth in San Francisco’s fintech industry. Given the volume of fintech companies and fintech activities based in New York and San Francisco, surprisingly neither has organizations or associations that connect the fintech companies together. Fintech startups in New York are largely supported by the FinTech Innovation Lab New York, which was co-founded by the Partnership Fund for the New York City and Accenture in 2010. The Lab is a highly competitive program that helps early - stage tech companies refine and test their solutions and products with support from the world’s leading financial service firms. The Lab has so far created more than 13,000 jobs and raised US$1.4bn in capital. Though not an official industry association, the Lab provides mentorship from premier financial institutions and life-long access to its global fintech ecosystem to its alumni companies. San Francisco has a number of associations in the area that are fintech-related, including the Global Chamber San Francisco, Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and San Francisco Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund, but none of them are specifically for the fintech industry.