In this episode of the Connector Podcast, host Koen Vanderhoydonk interviews Paula Kant, head of Investment Promotion for Invest Hong Kong’s Brussels team. Paula explains that Invest Hong Kong is a free‑government service that helps European companies establish a presence in Hong Kong through a multilingual, 34‑team overseas network. She outlines Hong Kong’s fintech ecosystem – financial services account for one‑fifth of GDP, the city hosts over 800 fintechs (56% local, 44% international) and 80% of the world’s largest banks and insurers have offices there. The conversation moves to Hong Kong FinTech Week (Oct 30‑Nov 5), highlighting the Global Fast Track program that combines a competition with corporate‑fintech matchmaking, and the event’s expected 35,000 attendees. Paula discusses how European fintechs can use Hong Kong as a launchpad into the Greater Bay Area and the broader Asia‑Pacific region, and stresses the importance of accelerators/incubators (e.g., Supercharger, Start Me Up HK) for gaining investor access. She details Invest Hong Kong’s strong relationships with regulators – the HKMA and the Securities and Futures Commission – and how the agency can arrange rapid licensing appointments. The episode closes with Paula’s personal endorsement of Hong Kong’s dynamic lifestyle (hiking, beaches, museums) and provides her LinkedIn and email contact for interested companies.
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Welcome to the Connector Podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs, banks, and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Koen Vanderhoydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets.
Welcome to another podcast, and today I've got Paula Kent with me, and Today talking with Paula is just a great moment because it feels for me like I'm talking about holidays. Paula, can you introduce yourself?
Hi, good morning, afternoon, evening to everybody. I'm Paula Kant. I'm the head of investment promotion at Invest Hong Kong Brussels team. And yeah, shall I tell some more about Invest Hong Kong?
Yes, please tell me a little bit more about Invest Hong Kong. It's the word Hong Kong that makes me think about holidays, but that's just a personal preference.
Invest Hong Kong is a government department. We help companies establish a presence in Hong Kong, and we do that with 34 overseas teams. I'm the head of the team here in Brussels and 10 sector teams in Hong Kong. So every company is defined by what sector are they in and what country are they from. In our case here in Brussels, we help companies from Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia. And to do that, we, yeah, we have an international team with a colleague from Hong Kong, a colleague from Romania, a colleague from Spain, a colleague from Belgium, and I'm from the Netherlands. So we try to cater to languages So internationalization with an international team. Yeah. And maybe one thing, Koen, before we go to a next topic. Since we're a government department, our services are free.
Tell us a little bit more about, well, the global landscape in Hong Kong.
Yeah. If we look at financial services, right, it's 1/5 of the GDP of Hong Kong. So One of the key key sectors, and you know to keep on top of its game in financial services, Hong Kong wants all the tech that keeps them on top of their game, right? In addition to the the the human resources, right? The people skills. So I think for fintechs from around the world, Hong Kong is an excellent place to to grow. So most fintechs, Koen, as as you know. They start growing in their home country, then often they look at neighboring countries. Then from Europe, the jump is often to the US, right? And only in the third instance it's to Asia. But Asia offers great growth opportunities. And with Hong Kong being— well, depends on the rankings whether they're International Financial Center 3 or 4. Yeah, it's one of the places to be, I would say, for a fintech.
And talking about the places to be, I'm very grateful for your invite to the Hong Kong FinTech Week in October. So what can we expect there? Why should we be there?
Well, Hong Kong FinTech Week, maybe first the dates, Koen. October 30th to November 5th. It's an in-person event again, and hopefully lots of people will come. In previous years, let me just get the statistics. We were talking about like 35,000 attendees, right? So we hope to have a full house again. One very important element I want to mention of the Hong Kong Fintech Week is what we call the Global Fast Track Program. And the Global Fast Track Program, it's a mix of a competition, right, for the best fintech, but also is matching between corporates and fintechs, right? So all kinds of corporates, banks, insurance companies could put their needs, their requirements, their challenges on this matching platform, and fintechs can put their solutions. So hopefully there will be a business matching, right, with fintechs and corporates. So even though you might not win the competition, you could still have good business matching and find new clients and ways to grow your business, which in the end is what it's all about, right? So that on the one hand, apart from that, I would advise everybody just type Hong Kong FinTech Week in your browser and you'll be taken to the webpage. You can check out the Global Fast Track program as well as the The agenda. The whole idea of Hong Kong FinTech Week is to make it a place where fintechs can get a taste of the financial sector in Hong Kong, where they can also maybe meet investors. And yeah, a place to get a good tasting on what's happening and maybe what are then the possibilities for your company.
Because I think to our podcast, there's a lot of European companies that are listening, and historically Hong Kong and Europe have a very close tie. But in your opinion, what can European fintechs bring to the market in Hong Kong, and maybe the wider market in Hong Kong? Because I think you not only speak about Hong Kong as an island.
There's increasingly, you know, this link between— Hong Kong is often not only Hong Kong, right? People use Hong Kong as a launchpad to go into what is called China's Greater Bay Area. That's Hong Kong, Macau, and 9 cities in the Guangdong Province, or into other parts of China. Also, Hong Kong often used as a regional hub, right? A regional Asia-Pacific hub. And I would say if you look at the fintech ecosystem in Hong Kong, it's really quite international. We're talking about more than 800 fintechs, and 56% of those fintechs Are from Hong Kong and mainland China, but that means that 44% are from the rest of the world. So, so really it is a very international ecosystem, and it also makes sense because 80% of the world's biggest banks and largest insurance companies—they all have an office in Hong Kong, right? So, and since these are the the financial services players are international, they want to also work with the. the best fintechs, right? And yeah, that might be a company from Belgium or from anywhere else in Europe, and it also could be a company from mainland China. But if you see those numbers, that 44% is from the rest of the world, it tells you that you're talking about quite an international fintech ecosystem.
I could almost call it scaler paradise.
Well, you know, I think the big challenge often in Hong Kong is And, you know, I know you visit it often. It's like there is money, but how do I get access to that money, right?
Mm-hmm.
If I'm a fintech with growth ambitions and I could use another financing round, what we see quite a few fintechs do is they try to enter an incubation program or an acceleration program and more than only learn how to scale up their business, It's also to be presented to investors, right? The owners and the managers of accelerators, they want to show their pupils, their alumni to investors. So I think that often is a great way to do it. We've seen it with one of our Irish companies that we helped recently called CurrencyFair. They entered into an acceleration program for fintechs called Supercharger. In that program, they managed to find new investors and it also, the program and the contacts brought them a joint venture with a Chinese company.
So nice.
Really, it's this, the incubation acceleration route is worthwhile. And there I could advise everybody, go to the webpage of Start Me Up Hong Kong. That's one of the teams of Invest Hong Kong at the head office. Start Me Up HK. It has a very good overview of all the accelerators and incubators in Hong Kong. So, and come to Hong Kong FinTech Week, right? Because meeting in person is still the most powerful way to go about it.
And Paula, you cannot speak about the financial industry if you don't take into account the regulators. So how is the relationship with HKMA?
Our contacts from Invest Hong Kong with HKMA are good, very good. So for those companies that need a license or permission, like companies that offer technical systems for video onboarding, right, they have to get the official okay from the HKMA. We can help companies set up appointments. And also in that Global Fast Track program, for the most, for what are considered the most promising fintechs, we will facilitate even very quick appointments, right? Quick appointments as in during Hong Kong Fintech Week. Also before and after, if a fintech calls me in December, say, or in January, and they have a fabulous new technology that needs to be that maybe needs to be approved or receive an okay, we can set up appointments easily and quickly with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. And depending on what the fintech does, sometimes if you talk about solutions for, like, say, asset management, you might need an okay from the SFC, the Securities and Futures Commission. Also there, we can, we can make appointments. And maybe I should add, there is in Hong Kong at our head office a sector team for financial services and fintech, and we can always also set up meetings in person, or like you and I are now chatting, a virtual meeting to kind of prepare follow-up meetings with the regulators, right?
Now, I'm pretty sure that everyone, every fintech with ambitions for Asia is now wondering, how can I contact you? But before we go Before we go to that, can I ask you, it's not only about work and business. Well, Hong Kong, as you mentioned, I've been many, many times. I would like to hear from you, what are the 3 main reasons why you should come to Hong Kong and not only business?
I think it's a super dynamic city. I would say there's a lot of, if you're into that, work hard, play hard. For those who like more activities to keep their body fit, there's hiking, there's trekking. In half an hour, you're also in the green in Hong Kong.
And beaches.
And beaches, beaches, Discovery Bay. And maybe the last one for the culture buffs, there is a ton of museums. What is very nice about Hong Kong is you can do lots of things. So I think there are many options. I think the biggest challenge for us Europeans is that Yes, you're going to have a smaller apartment.
But by the looks and by the sound of it, we all need to come to the Hong Kong FinTech Week. So how can people contact you to get some help?
So connect with me on LinkedIn. You can send me an email, paula_kant@hongkong-eu.org. Perfect. And if people get desperately lost, Koen, They give you a ring and you you can give them my details.
Absolutely, absolutely. And on that, thank you so much, Paula, for having you in our podcast. Thank you also to the listeners, and stay tuned for more news in the financial industry. Thank you very much, Paula. Thanks, Koen. Bye bye. Bye bye.
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