Convocation Newsletter, Spring 2019

Great Minds in FinTech Connecting with Tencent on innovation, teaching & research HKU and the Tencent Finance Academy (Hong Kong) (TFAHK) announced a collaboration to promote FinTech development. The opening ceremony on March 6, 2019, “Connecting Great Minds for FinTech Excellence”, highlighted how the project will build on the two institutions’ strengths: the University’s outstanding academic foundation and Tencent’s practical industry experience. The ceremony was officiated by Financial Secretary the Hon Paul Chan 陳茂波 and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury the Hon James Henry Lau 劉怡翔 . It was also attended by the then-Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Tam 譚廣亨 (MBBS 1976) and Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) Professor Ian Holliday. Jim Lai 賴智明 , Vice President of Tencent, President of Tencent Financial Technology and Dean of Tencent Finance Academy, said, “Through relevant training, internship opportunities, and a series of research projects, we will work together with HKU to promote FinTech development in Hong Kong.” “FinTech has become a global development trend,” said Dean of Engineering Professor Christopher Chao 趙汝恒 (BSc(Eng) 1988). “With the integration and sharing of knowledge and resources, it will definitely help our students in developing cross-industry knowledge and skills in FinTech.” In the 2019-20 academic year, HKU will launch a new BASc (FinTech) undergraduate programme to nurture innovative talent in different aspects of FinTech, preparing its graduates to conduct research in the field. 3 Major Areas • TFAHK will enhance HKU’s BASc (FinTech) programme, which will begin in September 2019. • TFAHK will provide internship opportunities for HKU students. • The FinTech & Blockchain Lab of the HKU Department of Computer Science will collaborate with TFAHK on research and development . The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Dean of Engineering Professor Christopher Chao 趙汝恒 (left) and James Li 李子樹 (BChinMed 2014) , Senior Director of Hong Kong, Macau & Cross-border Financial Affairs, Tencent. CONVOCATION NEWSLETTER 31