Accenture and leading financial services firms to mentor financial technology entrepreneurs in the fifth annual 12-week program
HONG KONG; July 31, 2018 — Eight leading financial technology (fintech) companies have been selected for the fifth annual FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific, a 12-week mentorship program created by Accenture (NYSE: ACN).
The 2018 program received a record number of applications, from more than 160 companies, and comes at a time when investments into the sector are soaring. According to an Accenture analysis of data from CB Insights, global investment in fintech ventures reached another all-time high in 2017, of US$27 billion, with continued growth in 2018.
Launched in Hong Kong in June 2014, the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific has received nearly 600 applications since its inception, with 33 companies participating to date. Alumni companies from the Lab have raised US$288 million after participating in the program.
The startups in the 2018 group have developed innovations in a wide variety of areas — including regulatory technology (RegTech), identity authentication, financial planning, artificial intelligence, software as a service and cloud-based delivery. The solutions are designed to help financial institutions address a myriad of challenges, from meeting compliance requirements and reducing costs to identifying fraud.
“The best way for financial institutions to keep up with all the disruption around them is by launching their own innovations and learning what their customers want from the different technologies out there,” said Piyush Singh, a senior managing director in Accenture’s Financial Services practice in Asia-Pacific and Africa. “The innovative solutions we’ve seen from startups at the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific offer a window into the changes shaping the financial industry, which is becoming more customer-centric, digital and mobile. The sizeable growth of investments into fintechs is a clear indication of the importance of the startup ecosystem to the finance industry and the opportunities traditional firms and venture capital investors see in the sector.”
The FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific is a collaboration between Accenture and leading financial institutions. The principal financial institutions for 2018’s Lab are: Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Credit Suisse; Goldman Sachs; HSBC; J.P. Morgan; Macquarie Group; Morgan Stanley; Nomura; Societe Generale; Standard Chartered; Sun Life Financial; and UBS. In addition, associate financial institutions include: AIA International Ltd; BlackRock; China CITIC Bank International; China Construction Bank (Asia); Citi Hong Kong; Generali; Maybank; Siam Commercial Bank; ZhongAn International; and Zurich Insurance.
The Lab will partner the eight chosen fintech start-ups with senior-level financial institution executives, leading technology entrepreneurs and other industry experts to help the companies fine-tune and develop their technologies and business strategies through a series of workshops, panel discussions, user-group sessions, networking opportunities and one-on-one meetings, helping them commercialize their innovations and connect with potential customers at top institutions. Cyberport, which is one of the founding organizations of the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific, will provide workspace to participating start-ups. It houses the largest fintech community in Hong Kong, providing start-ups a close and dynamic network of like-minded innovators from around the world.
The Lab culminates in October with selected participants presenting at Investor Day in front of an audience of venture capitalists and financial industry executives.
Last updated on April 16th, 2023 at 11:39 pm
