Cyberport has announced that the FinTech Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme (“PoC 2022”), commissioned by Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau again this year, opened for applications today (26 Sept). The scheme aims to encourage financial institutions including banks, insurance companies, securities firms and asset management companies to partner with FinTech companies, including start-ups, to conduct proof-of-concept projects on innovative financial services products.
In addition to local FinTech companies, research institutions can also apply to cooperate with financial institutions. Each approved applicant is entitled to an increased grant of HK $150,000 to $400,000.
Launched last year, the first PoC scheme saw an overwhelming response. A total of 93 projects were approved for a total grant of HK$10 million, covering various sectors such as WealthTech, RegTech, InsurTech and payment systems. Some projects included cross-border applications involving cross-financial sectors and regions such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The government has earmarked $10 million for PoC 2022, which will be enhanced in the following three aspects:
(1) Substantially increasing the maximum subsidy for eligible projects: The maximum subsidy for each approved project in PoC 2022 has been increased from $100,000 to $150,000, an uplift of 50%. The grant may be further raised to $200,000 for projects involving cross-border applications or applications in emerging fields such as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), RegTech, Open Application Programming Interfaces (Open API) or Federated Learning. For projects that have a wider impact on the industry and address industry-wide bottleneck issues, the subsidy may rise to $400,000.
(2) Expanding the pool of eligible applicants: Last year, the PoC Scheme mainly accepted joint applications from financial institutions and Fintech companies. PoC 2022 accepts joint applications from financial and research institutions including local universities, self-financing institutions, public research institutes or private FinTech laboratories, etc.
(3) Allowing more flexibility in partnerships: PoC 2022 accepts applications from multiple FinTech companies or from research institutions partnering with more than one financial institution on a single project, incentivising the creation of innovative solutions that address the pain points of the wider FinTech and financial services sectors.
The first phase will be open for applications till 30 November 2022.
Interested financial institutions, FinTech companies and research institutions are welcome to visit the portal (https://pocsubsidy.cyberport.hk ) to learn more and to submit an application.
