Building FINTECH Bridges between China & the UK

Highlights of the FINTECH Bridge China-UK Conference in London, December 2018

Last week, the 1st FINTECH Bridge China-UK Conference took place in London where 100 invited leaders from both the UK and Mainland China came together to debate the future of financial services and how business and investment partnerships can achieve joint goals of fintech and financial progress to benefit both consumers and financial services companies.

Sir Tom Troubridge, Vice Chairman of the China Britain Business Council welcomed all guests concluding that "this is a very exciting journey for both parties to explore in this fast-moving sector. One of the objectives of today’s conference is about how we can work together to create an ecosystem for Fintech which is mutually beneficial and supportive of economic growth for UK and China."  Watch the video.

Minister Counsellor for Science and Technology, Sunan Jiang from the Chinese Embassy explained international megascience programs, the growth of China and shared his vision about the future development of fintech in China and the importance of global partnerships. => Video

We continued with a Panel about the FINTECH Bridges where Jon Vollemaere, CEO, R5FX, Jianhua Shao, Solutions Architect, Alibaba Cloud, Ben Regnard-Weinrabe, Partner, Allen & Overy and I discussed how global collaboration works in practise, moderated by Sir Tom Troubridge, Vice Chairman, CBBC. => Video

Then David Avgi. CEO SafeCharge and Yoav Chernitz, China Business Development Director, SafeCharge gave a keynote on opportunities and strategies in payments sharing their successful deal with Tencent to roll out WeChat payment options to Chinese tourists when travelling through Europe. => Video

The 2nd Panel focused on opportunities of China’s Belt & Road Initiative for the Fintech Sector with Jinny Yan, MD and Chief Economist, ICBC Standard Bank PLC, Sherry Madera, Special Advisor for Asia, City of London and Henry Tillman, CEO, Grisons Peak, chaired by Joy Macknight, Deputy Editor, The Banker. => Video

We then continued with a fireside chat with Iain Anderson, Executive Chairman, Cicero Group and NED of Innovate Finance about the impact of Brexit on the fintech sector and UK government initiatives to ensure that the UK continues to be a global leader in fintech including a new investor database which will be rolled out next year to connect fintech firms with capital. Video

After lunch the Investor Panel consisted of Chris Huo, Fosun Group, Rob Moffat, Balderton Capital, Vinoth Jayakumar, Draper Esprit, Frank Tong, Global Head of Innovation and Strategic Investments, HSBC and William Samengo-Turner, Allen & Overy debating the different investment approaches in China and the UK/Europe. The full video can be watched here.

This was followed by eight fantastic Fintech companies from both the UK and Greater China who presented their fintech solutions in order to win the FINTECH Bridge Awards: FundingXchange, Salary Fits, Sharegain, PanPay, Pomelo Pay, Tchain Global, Gekko Lab and Coriolis.

The final panel discussed sustainable, green finance & financial inclusion with Albert Maasland, Group CEO, Crown Agents Bank, Esteban Abad, CEO Syer Advisers, Pablo Uson, CFO Pockit moderated by Prof. Salvatore Moccia, Strategic Management at the International University UNIR. => Video

Then I had the pleasure to launch the FINTECH Bridge Journal, the 1st publication on global fintech co-operation agreements between governments and financial regulators globally describing the 46 global fintech bridges which exist. => Video

The FINTECH Bridge Award Ceremony followed where Mr Wenjian Fang, CEO Bank of China UK and Mr Cao Tong, Chairman, Hande FinMaker presented the Awards to our four winners. Congratulations to a huge achievement:

• Best UK Fintech 2018 - FundingXChange (Katrin Herrling, CEO)
• Best Chinese Fintech 2018 - Gekko Lab (Kevin Pang, Co-Founder)
• Best Fintech Platform - Salary Fits (Delber Lage, Head of the UK)
• Best Fintech Innovation - ShareGain (Boaz Yaar, CEO)

Finally, the Global Fintech Ambassador Award 2018 was announced which went to Dr. Cao Tong, Chairman of Hande FinTech Holding, Former Vice President of The Export-Import Bank of China, Former Vice President of China CITIC Bank Corporation, Former President of WeBank, China's first Challenger Bank founded by Tencent, presented by Mr Wenjian Fang, CEO Bank of China and myself. Watch the Awards Ceremony here.

I also wanted to thank our partners - Allen & Overy, SafeCharge, Global Fintech Lab, China-Britain Business Council and the Fintech Association of Zhejiang. Looking forward to the 2nd FINTECH Bridge China-UK Conference in 2019 - Date will be announced shortly here. All conference photos can be viewed here.

Watch the 3 min summary Conference summary video here.

Susanne Chishti

CEO & Founder @FINTECHCircle @FTC_Institute

Co-Editor The FINTECH, WealthTECH and InsurTECH Books

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