By The Asset HSBC has opened its first financial technology (Fintech) innovation lab in the Asia Pacific as part of a global initiative to develop next generation digital and mobile banking services. Staffed with a team of business and technology experts, the lab’s first phase of development will focus on Fintech solutions for corporate banking needs in payments, trade and supply chains, particularly for companies with a regional focus. Subsequent development phases will integrate the full range of HSBC services, including retail banking, into the lab’s capabilities. “The HSBC innovation lab will strengthen the bank’s world-wide program of innovation, leveraging our international reach and connectivity to accelerate and amplify the benefits and opportunities to our clients with international ambitions,” says Marcus Treacher, HSBC’s global head of Innovation for Payments and Cash Management. “The HSBC innovation lab will not only provide extensive exposure to the latest financial technology trends to our partners and clients for earlier strategic response but position HSBC as a digital banking thought-leader in the Asia Pacific,” Treacher added. HSBC will work with a range of partners – including clients, technology firms, academia and government officials – to share expertise and showcase trends and new technologies. New ideas and concepts will be prototyped and trialed through full-scale business simulations to generate practical insights into digital disruptions, then fine-tuned before being fully launched to market. HSBC has been actively ramping up its involvement in Fintech and innovation, participating in various initiatives around the world. HSBC was a founding partner of Stone & Chalk, a Fintech hub supporting start-ups in Sydney which opened its doors in August 2015. The bank has also mentored new businesses in London and Hong Kong, helping to introduce them to potential partners, stress-test their strategy and gain insights into the financial services sector. The new lab will be located at HSBC’s flagship Singapore banking centre in Collyer Quay. A key focus will be to support the development and testing of digital and mobile banking innovation projects with application potential in ASEAN countries where the bank has an active presence, including Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Guy Harvey-Samuel, HSBC group general manager and CEO of HSBC Singapore, said that Singapore’s physical location at the heart of the ASEAN region and its status as home to more than 200 multinational regional treasuries made it the logical choice to base an innovation lab. “Much of the corporate management activity across ASEAN emanates from Singapore, and the city-state is making a concerted push to develop itself as a technology innovation centre, attracting a growing start-up community and forging ties with other leading innovation centres, such as London,” he said. “The HSBC innovation lab in Singapore is well-placed to enable the bank to become a key contributor to the Fintech eco-system. It will bring focus to the Singapore market on the global stage, harnessing, and showcasing its strong talent pool and technologies to take newly defined propositions to other markets and geographies.”
HSBC has echoed the initiatives embarked upon by several other banks in establishing a FinTech innovation lab for digital and mobile banking services in the Asia Pacific.