PolyU-Asklora Fintech Adoption Index Survey launch event. From left to right: Mr Jack POON (Professor of Practice of the School of Accounting and Finance of PolyU), Mr Joseph Chang (CEO & co-founder of Asklora), Mr Marcos Chow (Group CIO of HKT), Gabriel Kung (COO of Bowtie), Dr Jingran ZHAO (Associate Professor of the School of Accounting and Finance of PolyU), Ir Prof. T.C. Edwin Cheng (Dean of PolyU Business School), King Leung (Head of Fintech at InvestHK), Dr Anthony Ng (CEO of HKVAX), Prof. Kai LIM (Chair Professor of Information Technology Innovation and Management), Dr Steven Wei (Deputy Director of AMTD FinTech Centre of PolyU Faculty of Business)
(10 May 2023) The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s (PolyU) School of Accounting and Finance, in collaboration with AI stock investment app Asklora, released the 2023 first-half Fintech Adoption Index (FAI) report. It aims to measure the latest condition and barriers of consumer fintech adoption and provide recommendations to fintech suppliers and policymakers to improve financial inclusion in Hong Kong.
On 25 Apr, The FAI released its 2023 semi-annual report. Ir. Prof. T.C. Edwin Cheng, Dean of PolyU Business School and King Leung, Head of Fintech at InvestHK, attended the FAI release event with several fintech leaders and representatives from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Consumer Council.
The FAI surveyed over 2,000 Hong Kong residents on their adoption of key fintech applications divided into five fintech segments: digital payment (DP), virtual bank (VB), virtual insurance (VI), virtual wealth (VW), and virtual assets (VA).
The survey found that 74% of all respondents were users of at least two fintech segments, with digital payment leading the way with a 91% adoption rate. The three most commonly adopted fintech segments are digital payment, virtual banks, and virtual wealth.
Further analysis showed that fintech adoption in Hong Kong was higher among users between their 30s and 50s than younger Gen Z users. Additionally, our survey showed that fintech adoption was skewed toward males and users with higher education and higher income. Property ownership was positively correlated to fintech adoption. Gabriel Kung, Chief Commercial Officer of Bowtie, a virtual insurance company, said, “Data from the FAI report provided insightful information for the virtual insurance industry. looking ahead to the future, Bowtie will further improve our online insurance platform in order to offer a convenient yet reliable online insuring experience to citizens.”
In fact, the FAI data provides pragmatic marketing strategies for other fintech startups, such as Asklora, an AI-based stock investment platform that is an FAI collaborator and supporter. Stephen Joon CHOI, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Asklora, said, “Asklora has shifted its focus from younger, inexperienced investors to a slightly older and wealthier target audience based on the FAI report.” The survey also revealed a need for Chinese language educational services on fintech to address a potentially underserved population.
While there is a great success in Hong Kong fintech adoption, the average fintech adoption across all segments is 54%, which indicates a bifurcation: certain segments, such as digital payments, are a resounding success, but others, such as virtual assets, have yet to take true acceptance. The FAI survey asked non-adopting participants why they chose not to use the fintech services. The top two answers were satisfaction with existing services and distrust of new technology. With the upcoming SFC licensing regime on virtual assets, virtual assets may exhibit the highest user growth in the coming months.
In the future, the PolyU-Asklora FAI survey plans to incorporate areas related to behavioral finance, investment and retirement options for consumers, enablers for small-medium enterprises, aspects of fintech usage, and the challenges and opportunities for fintech providers from a user perspective in future research.
The PolyU-Asklora FAI project is led by Dr. Jingran ZHAO, Associate Professor of the School of Accounting and Finance of PolyU, Jack POON, Professor of Practice from the same school, and Stephen Joon CHOI, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Asklora.
For more information on the PolyU-Asklora FAI, please visit https://www.polyufai.org.
On 25 Apr, The FAI released its 2023 semi-annual report. Ir. Prof. T.C. Edwin Cheng, Dean of PolyU Business School and King Leung, Head of Fintech at InvestHK, attended the FAI release event with several fintech leaders and representatives from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Consumer Council.
The FAI surveyed over 2,000 Hong Kong residents on their adoption of key fintech applications divided into five fintech segments: digital payment (DP), virtual bank (VB), virtual insurance (VI), virtual wealth (VW), and virtual assets (VA).
The survey found that 74% of all respondents were users of at least two fintech segments, with digital payment leading the way with a 91% adoption rate. The three most commonly adopted fintech segments are digital payment, virtual banks, and virtual wealth.
Further analysis showed that fintech adoption in Hong Kong was higher among users between their 30s and 50s than younger Gen Z users. Additionally, our survey showed that fintech adoption was skewed toward males and users with higher education and higher income. Property ownership was positively correlated to fintech adoption. Gabriel Kung, Chief Commercial Officer of Bowtie, a virtual insurance company, said, “Data from the FAI report provided insightful information for the virtual insurance industry. looking ahead to the future, Bowtie will further improve our online insurance platform in order to offer a convenient yet reliable online insuring experience to citizens.”
In fact, the FAI data provides pragmatic marketing strategies for other fintech startups, such as Asklora, an AI-based stock investment platform that is an FAI collaborator and supporter. Stephen Joon CHOI, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Asklora, said, “Asklora has shifted its focus from younger, inexperienced investors to a slightly older and wealthier target audience based on the FAI report.” The survey also revealed a need for Chinese language educational services on fintech to address a potentially underserved population.
While there is a great success in Hong Kong fintech adoption, the average fintech adoption across all segments is 54%, which indicates a bifurcation: certain segments, such as digital payments, are a resounding success, but others, such as virtual assets, have yet to take true acceptance. The FAI survey asked non-adopting participants why they chose not to use the fintech services. The top two answers were satisfaction with existing services and distrust of new technology. With the upcoming SFC licensing regime on virtual assets, virtual assets may exhibit the highest user growth in the coming months.
In the future, the PolyU-Asklora FAI survey plans to incorporate areas related to behavioral finance, investment and retirement options for consumers, enablers for small-medium enterprises, aspects of fintech usage, and the challenges and opportunities for fintech providers from a user perspective in future research.
The PolyU-Asklora FAI project is led by Dr. Jingran ZHAO, Associate Professor of the School of Accounting and Finance of PolyU, Jack POON, Professor of Practice from the same school, and Stephen Joon CHOI, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Asklora.
For more information on the PolyU-Asklora FAI, please visit https://www.polyufai.org.
