On February 25, 2022, Faculty of Finance of City University of Macau successfully held an online joint conference at the Cultural Centre on the Taipa campus, involving participants from Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau under the theme “Research and Application of Fintech in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”. The Conference was designed to explore and discuss the development opportunities and business applications of Fintech. More than 100 CityU students attended. 70 professionals from Bank of China joined the Conference in Bank of China Building and more than 260 people in total from Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau attended online.
Mr Joseph Chan Ho-lim JP, Under Secretary for Financial Services, from the Treasury HKSAR Government, Director Yeung Yam from Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Professor Zhou Wanlei, Vice Rector of City University of Macau and Dean of Faculty of Data Science delivered a speech at the conference, respectively. In the main session, we invited well-known speakers to share their latest academic insights in areas such as technology and ethics in the financial market, insurance industry from the perspective of science and technology, financial data security, Algo Trade and ETF. These speakers including Professor Zhang Bohui, Executive Associate Dean of School of Management and Economics of CUHK-Shenzhen; Mr Guang Yao, Founder and CEO of Xiaoyusan; Professor Frank Lung, Professor of School of Continuing and Professional Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Mr Rex Ma, ER Inno Consultancy Co-Founder and Youth Innovation Centre of Guangdong-Hong King-Macao Greater Bay Area Advisor; Professor Zhou Wanlei, Vice Rector the City University of Macau and Mr Yu Jian, General Manager of the E-Finance Department of the Bank of China Macau Branch.
The Macau Conference was hosted by Associate Dean Mu Yi of Faculty of Science, CityU Macau. The theme shared by Mr Zhou was “Financial Data Security Cases and Analysis”. He first pointed out the importance of data security, for example, traditional security concepts such as confidentiality, integrity and availability, and later brought out the possibility of security threats, including internal and external threats and network attackers. Even though the boundary of the system is difficult to be accurately defined, detection and prevention efforts are necessary, but they cannot reduce the level of risk to zero. Professor Zhou analyzed the circumstances and lessons of different security threats through individual cases, which include ransomware, phishing and data breach. He stated that network security has become a basic element of the modern society, and also a continual problem. Therefore, more research and development of network security is needed to strengthen the public’s knowledge on defending against financial data attacks and to build a secure financial data cyberspace.
Mr Yu discussed the development of financial technology in Macau at the Conference. Since 2017, with the steady rise of tourism, Wechat and Alipay have gradually appeared in Macau, but only utilized mainly by tourists at least initially. The launch of Mpay in the same year demonstrated the beginning of electronic payment in Macau. In the next few years, Tai Fung Pay, BOC Macau and ICBC ePay were successively launched. Later, due to the outbreak of the pandemic, the Electronic Consumption Benefits Plan launched by the government has further promoted the popularization of electronic wallets among local residents. Although Macau’s economy has been affected by the recession under the pandemic, its development is undoubtedly a leap forward especially in terms of financial technology. Mr Yu pointed out that there are still many market opportunities and gaps in Macau’s fintech in the future, and its infrastructure and business model also need to be further improved and explore. He was worth looking forward to the gradual formation of a complete set of systems and mechanisms for the future development of Macau’s fintech.
The Conference was jointly organized by Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Finance Institute of CUHK-Shenzhen、CUHK Greater Bay Area Alumni Association, Convocation of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Office for Greater Bay Area Developments of CUHK, Association of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the City University of Macau, as well as supported by financial-related associations and institutions in the Greater Bay Area including Macau Institute of Financial Services.
Other key participants include Director Stella Lok and Associate Director Chui Mouna Tsi from Association of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area; Lao Sio Mei, Finance Director of CityU Macau; Associate Dean Mu Yi of the Faculty of Data Science, Dean Cheung Wai Kong and Associate Dean Khong Yeung Wah of the Faculty of Finance, City University of Macau.