Hong Kong has net inflow of fintech talent

Themis Qi

Hong Kong recorded net inflows of fintech professionals over the past two years due to increasing career opportunities, but authorities need to do more to build up this talent pool, says Tam Ka-yan, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Tam led a team to explore how the city can develop the manpower for the industry as well as technologies for insurance and regulation to achieve the goal, under the Strategic Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (SPPRFS) administered by the Chief Executive's Policy Unit (CEPU).

The study found that some skilled workers who had emigrated to the UK had since returned to Hong Kong, and there was a net influx to the city in the year ending in January 2024, reversing the exodus seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tam said skilled workers cared most about the good career opportunities, adding that the net inflow also showed that Hong Kong offered more opportunities for fintech professionals amid the global trend towards the use of artificial intelligence, despite the city's slow economic recovery.

Based on the job opening data gathered from various portals by Tam's study, the demand for fintech professionals was 680 in January 2024 after peaking in the second quarter of 2022 with over 1,100 positions.

Tam also projected that the total number of students to be trained in fintech as well as AI and big data would exceed 15,700 in the next five years.

To further build Hong Kong's fintech talent pool, Tam urged the authorities to allocate more internships to students or contracts to smaller players in the industries for key infrastructure projects.

In addition, the government could support enterprises to offer fintech and AI training to their existing staff, retaining the talent in the city, said Tam.

Tam said Hong Kong is better placed to cultivate talent as it has so many universities. "As long as there are enough opportunities, talent would help drive the economy," he said.