The Fintech Talent Development,Competency, and Manpower Study

The Fintech Talent Development, Competency, and Manpower Study 48 Sources of Fintech Professionals Upskilling Existing Staff Another avenue to talent development is training existing staff to fill the gaps. The advantage is that existing staff understand the business, culture, and operation of their firm well. Training can be customized to suit the background and expectation of individual staff. However, in-house training requires the support of the human resource department and this may not be feasible for small and medium firms (e.g. fintech startups), as remarked by some respondents of the survey. Recruiting from Local Universities Recruiting from local universities is another channel to fill the talent pipeline. In recent years, local universities have been stepping up efforts to nurture fintech talent by establishing degree programs at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. University graduates receive solid training in many of the skills identified in Exhibit 16 yet they don’t have much work experience. When they join as juniors, it takes time to leverage their potential fully. To shorten this lead time, a fast track could be developed for these graduates so that they can assume key roles in product development and operation. Because they are fresh graduates and are not constrained by any deeply entrenched corporate culture, they may add to the design thinking capacity of the firm. One virtual insurer in our survey exemplified this approach by hiring young talent with an average age below 28. Attracting Overseas Investment in Hong Kong Fintech Other approaches to expand the talent pool include recruiting from overseas, partnership with firms that have the desired expertise, and even acquiring firms that have capacity and skills. Cyberport, InvestHK and the FinTech Association of Hong Kong have also been proactive in attracting overseas fintech firms to establish a base in Hong Kong and promoting Hong Kong as a fintech hub in Asia.