Fact Sheet: Hong Kong Fintech Landscape

FACT SHEET: HONG KONG FINTECH LANDSCAPE
28 May 2026

Hong Kong is a world-leading international FinTech hub characterised by a diverse and dynamic landscape. Although a relatively small city, it punches above its weight as one of the most advanced markets for FinTech businesses and innovations to thrive. The Hong Kong FinTech ecosystem continues to grow, raise capital and nurture world-class talent.

• Hong Kong being ranked as the world's freest economy again in 2025. Among the five areas of assessment, the city retains the top position in "Freedom to trade internationally", while securing third in "Sound money" and "Regulation".

• Hong Kong retained its position of third worldwide and first in the Asia-Pacific region, in the latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) 39 Report jointly published by Z/Yen from the United Kingdom and the China Development Institute from Shenzhen. Notably, Hong Kong continued to rank first globally in fintech offerings, with banking and finance rising to global No. 1. Hong Kong also remained first in insurance and climbed to second globally in investment management. In addition, Hong Kong's rankings in the five areas of competitiveness, namely 'business environment', 'human capital', 'infrastructure', 'financial sector development' and 'reputational and general', continued to stay among the global top three positions.

• In Q1 2026, Hong Kong maintains its position as the world’s top IPO venue by funds raised. With a total of 40 new listings in the first three months of this year, raising approximately HK$109.9 billion in total. Resulting a year-on-year increase of 488% when compared with the same period last year.

• Hong Kong is the world’s largest cross‑border wealth hub, with cross‑border assets reaching US$2.95 trillion in 2025 driven by strong IPO activity and capital inflows from Mainland China, surpassing Switzerland (US$2.94 trillion), according to Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth Report 2026.

• The Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster ranked first globally in the top 100 innovation clusters, according to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025, published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

• Business sentiment towards Hong Kong continued to improve, according to 2026 Business Sentiment Survey Findings Report by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (AmCham), with over 50% of respondents expressing optimism about the city’s business outlook for the next 12 months, compared with 33% last year, according to a recent survey. At the same time, negative assessments of Hong Kong’s business environment declined to 27%, down from 42% previously, reflecting growing confidence despite ongoing global uncertainty.

• Hong Kong has climbed to fourth place globally in the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (WDCR) 2025 published by the International Institute for Management Development—up three spots from the previous year. The city continued to perform well, remaining in third and fifth positions globally for Technology and Knowledge, underscoring its commitment to driving innovation for the digital age.

• The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) published the World Talent Ranking 2025, with Hong Kong's ranking leaping to fourth globally from ninth last year, marking the highest-ever position and ranking first in Asia.

• Meanwhile, Hong Kong universities celebrated a landmark achievement, with five institutions ranked among Asia’s top 10—underscoring the city’s status as the region’s premier study destination. Leading this ascent, the University of Hong Kong reclaimed the No. 1 position in the QS World University Rankings: Asia 2026, marking its first return to the top spot in 15 years, as announced in November 2025.

• Home to around 1,200 fintech companies in 2025 covering a wide range of industries. Hong Kong’s top 3 fintech sub-sectors are digital assets, cryptocurrency and blockchain application; WealthTech; and payment and remittance.

• Hong Kong’s startup landscape is thriving, supported by a dynamic ecosystem that has attracted around 5,200 startups. The emergence of 19 unicorns further illustrates the city’s strong innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. Examples of Hong Kong’s FinTech unicorns include HashKey Group, an end-to-end digital asset financial services group; ZA International, which was granted a HK virtual bank license in March 2019 via its subsidiary ZA Bank Limited; and WeLab, an online financial company.

• According to the results of the Annual Survey of Companies in Hong Kong with Parent Companies Located outside Hong Kong (2025 Edition) by the Census and Statistics Department, the number of business operations in Hong Kong with parent companies located outside Hong Kong was 11,070 in 2025, an increase of 11% compared with last year. In terms of location of parent companies, the Chinese Mainland ranked first with 3,090 companies, followed by the United States (1,550), Japan (1,550), the United Kingdom (770), and Singapore (590). In 2025, the 560 overseas and Mainland companies that Invest Hong Kong has assisted are reaching a record high with a 4% increase compared to 2024.

• As a key milestone in Hong Kong’s strategy to position itself as a global hub for digital finance, the HKMA has granted the first batch of stablecoin issuer licences under the Stablecoins Ordinance to Anchorpoint Financial Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited on 10 April 2026, marking a major milestone in Hong Kong’s regulated digital asset development. The licensing regime provides a clear and orderly framework that enables innovation while ensuring robust user protection and effective risk management, reinforcing Hong Kong’s commitment to fostering a safe, responsible and sustainable stablecoin ecosystem and supporting the broader growth of digital assets in the city.

• In April 2026, SFC unveiled new regulatory framework to allow secondary trading of tokenised SFC-authorised investment products (tokenised products) in Hong Kong, aiming to boost trading activity in the city’s expanding digital asset ecosystem over time. The new framework marks another major milestone on Hong Kong’s journey to build out a fully integrated, innovative and scalable digital asset ecosystem with robust investor safeguards. This initiative allows a traditional securities product, once tokenised, to be traded in the evening and on weekends, and supported by the use of regulated stablecoins and tokenised deposits to facilitate round-the-clock liquidity, satisfying demand of investors reacting to an increasingly fast-moving and uncertain market environment.

• In February 2026, the SFC announced further ASPIRe‑aligned initiatives to broaden product diversity and enhance market vibrancy, while maintaining robust investor protection and risk controls. The SFC will allow licensed VA brokers to offer margin financing for VA trading to eligible securities margin clients with strong credit profiles, subject to adequate collateral and stringent safeguards, supporting liquidity development in a risk‑controlled manner. For licensed virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs), the SFC has introduced a high‑level regulatory framework for VA‑related leveraged products, including perpetual contracts, available to professional investors only, with clear requirements on product design, disclosures and operational controls. The SFC will also permit affiliated entities of licensed VATPs to act as market makers on their platforms, subject to strong safeguards to ensure functional independence and effective conflict‑of‑interest management.

• As of May 2026, the SFC has officially granted licences to 13 digital asset trading platforms, with both local and overseas in origin, and is processing an additional eight license applications. Currently, the SFC-licensed virtual asset trading platforms include OSL Exchange, HashKey Exchange, HKVAX, HKbitEX, Accumulus, DFX Labs, EX.IO, PantherTrade, YAX, Bullish, BGE, VDX, and Bixin.com.

• In November 2025, the HKMA announced the launch of Ensemble^TX, marking the commencement of the pilot phase of Project Ensemble. Ensemble^TX builds upon the successful outcomes of the Ensemble Sandbox experimentation, aiming to empower market participants to utilise tokenised deposits in tokenised money market fund transactions and to manage liquidity and treasury needs in real time. This evolution will further enable the continuous development of Hong Kong’s broader tokenisation ecosystem.

• In November 2025, the SFC issued two new circulars: “Circular on shared liquidity by virtual asset trading platforms” and “Circular on expansion of products and services of virtual asset trading platforms”. The CEO of the SFC, Ms Julia Leung highlighted that these circulars permit Virtual Asset Trading Platforms (VATPs) to share a global order book with their overseas affiliates, connecting the Hong Kong market with global liquidity. They also expand VATPs' service and product offerings in all types of digital assets.

• Following the two successful issuances in 2023 and 2024, the third issuance of the Digital Green Bonds Offering marks another milestone in the HKSAR Government's bond tokenisation journey with the successful pricing of around HK$10 billion worth of digital green bonds denominated in HK dollars, Renminbi, US dollars and euros under the Government Sustainable Bond Programme in 11 November 2025.

• In June 2025, the Government issued the Policy Statement 2.0 on the Development of Digital Assets in Hong Kong, reinforcing its vision of establishing Hong Kong as a global hub for innovation in the digital asset field while introducing the “LEAP” development framework:

  • Legal and regulatory streamlining

  • Expanding the suite of tokenised products

  • Advancing use cases and cross-sectoral collaboration

  • People and partnership development

A stable, world-class regulatory regime featuring attractive sandboxes and initiatives to pioneer fintech development in emerging areas. No exchange controls or restrictions on capital inflows and outflows make Hong Kong one of the freest markets for fintech companies to grow and expand cross-boundary operations. Companies also benefit from a low and simple tax structure, as well as a variety of generous government support, funding, and subsidy schemes.

• In February 2026, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published the Fintech Promotion Blueprint under Fintech 2030, shifting the focus from adoption to advancement of fintech through more sophisticated applications of A.I., distributed ledger technology and high performance computing. The Blueprint outlines initiatives across ecosystem collaboration, technological advancement, and talent development, including flagship projects on Quantum Preparedness Index, New Risk Data Strategy, Fintech Cybersecurity Baseline, and Competency Development to support responsible innovation in the banking sector.

• In November 2025, the HKMA unveiled the "Fintech 2030" strategy, aimed at accelerating Hong Kong’s fintech development and reimagining the future of finance. This initiative opens a new chapter for the industry, pushing boundaries towards a more sustainable and inclusive fintech ecosystem built on four strategic pillars collectively known as “DART.”

  1. Creating Next-generation Data and Payment Infrastructure: Build secure, scalable systems for data sharing and cross-border payments to unlock credit, enhance trade finance, and enable personalised financial services and seamless remittances.

  2. A New Holistic "Artificial Intelligence x Authorized Institutions" Strategy (AI2 Strategy): Promote responsible AI adoption across the financial sector by creating shared infrastructure and finance-specific models, improving accessibility, responsiveness, and customisation while ensuring transparency and trust.

  3. Enhancing Business, Technology and Quantum Resilience: Strengthen cybersecurity with fintech-specific certifications and real-time threat detection, while preparing for quantum finance through post-quantum cryptography and quantum-safe infrastructure.

  4. Tokenisation of Finance: Accelerate tokenisation of real-world assets and financial instruments, including government bonds, supported by blockchain settlements and digital money (e-HKD, tokenised deposits, stablecoins). Launch initiatives such as the Project Ensemble pilot to enable real-value transactions and foster innovation.

• In October 2025, the HKMA announced the second cohort of the GenA.I. Sandbox to advance responsible A.I. innovation. Building on the foundation of the first cohort, this upcoming cohort demonstrates a significant industry shift from experimenting with A.I.'s capabilities to enabling its secure and reliable implementation. A total of 27 use cases from 20 banks and 14 technology partners have been selected to focus on strengthening AI governance. In March 2026, HKMA, SFC, IA, and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA), in collaboration with Cyberport jointly launched GenA.I. Sandbox++, expanding the original initiative to cover banking, securities, asset and wealth management, insurance, MPF and stored value facilities.

• In August 2025, the IA gathered leaders in the insurance sector and active technology service providers to launch the AI Cohort Programme, with seven insurers pledged as core participants to establish centres of excellence and nurture talents in Hong Kong. The initiative aims to foster collaboration between insurers and technology providers, promote responsible AI use, and position Hong Kong as a regional AI hub.

• Sandboxes – Hong Kong has sandboxes for the banking, insurance and securities sectors. As of the end of March 2026, pilot trials of 388 fintech initiatives had been approved in the Fintech Supervisory Sandbox by HKMA. Separately, banks have collaborated with tech firms in 273 trial cases. Usage of the FSS as of the end of March 2026:

• On 19 November 2025, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Shenzhen Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau jointly promulgated the Action Plan for Jointly Building the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Global Fintech Hub (2025-2027). The plan aims to fully leverage the strengths of both cities in fintech and work together to establish a world-class fintech centre. By the end of 2027, the initiative targets the creation of over 20 financial application scenarios through the Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-boundary data validation platform. This collaboration seeks to further consolidate Hong Kong’s position as an international financial centre while supporting Shenzhen’s development into a globally influential industrial finance hub.

• In June 2025, the HKMA and the People’s Bank of China announced the launch of Payment Connect, aimed at linking the Chinese Mainland's Internet Banking Payment System (IBPS) and Hong Kong's Faster Payment System (FPS). This initiative supports secure, efficient and convenient real-time cross-boundary payments for residents and institutions in both places.

• On cross-border personal wealth management, the “Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect (WMC) 2.0” was launched in 2024. The HKMA, in collaboration with Mainland regulatory authorities, has introduced several enhancements under the WMC 2.0 framework, including “one-off consent” and “three-party online conference” arrangements, as well as allowing Southbound Scheme account opening through a non-face-to-face approach. These measures aim to facilitate banks in providing more effective sales and account opening services.

Hong Kong has a rich and diverse funding landscape. This includes both government-backed and private funding for smaller start-ups; private equity and venture funding for scale-ups, and one of the world’s top IPO markets.

• Government Funding – The government continued to support Hong Kong’s fintech landscape through various funding initiatives, including dedicated channels for funding companies in the Northern Metropolis.

• The 2025 Policy Address stated that Hong Kong is home to around 360,000 SMEs, which serve as vital pillars of our economic development. To help businesses navigate the city’s ongoing economic restructuring, the Government will roll out 11 targeted measures to strengthen SME support. These include extending the application period for the 80% Guarantee Product under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme for two years, further extending the principal moratorium arrangement for one year, reducing water and sewage charges for non-domestic accounts by 50%, and cutting the trade effluent surcharge by 50%, among other initiatives.

• The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (“HKIC”) was established in 2022 to further optimise the use of financial reserves for promoting the development of the economy and industries of Hong Kong. As of end March 2026, HKIC had invested in over 200 projects. The HKIC will continue to invest in the AI industry, leveraging Patient Capital to support the long-term development of related technologies and applications. This will help Hong Kong seize first-mover advantages in the new wave of technological transformation and promote broader adoption of AI in high-growth areas such as finance, healthcare and professional services.

• The Trade and Industry Department (TID) announced on March 2025, that it would implement enhancement measures for the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund) and the SME Export Marketing Fund (EMF) to provide support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a more focused and sustainable manner.

• The government has allocated HK$50 million to expedite development of the Web3 ecosystem and set up a task force to advise on the sustainable development of the virtual asset industry.

• HKSTPC will inject 400 million into its Corporate Venture Fund and inject an additional 110 million to launch the Co-acceleration Programme.

• Private Funding – Hong Kong has the 2nd largest fund pool in Asia Pacific, behind Chinese Mainland. Hong Kong's private equity capital under management exceeded US$233.9 billion, ranking second in Asia. Hong Kong is also Asia's largest hedge fund hub and cross-border wealth management centre.

• The Government issued the Policy Statement on Developing Family Office Businesses in Hong Kong, which will promote the sustainable development of Hong Kong’s financial and professional services and innovation and technology. Market study reveals more than 3,380 single-family offices were operating in Hong Kong as of the end of 2025, representing a growth of more than 25 percent over the past two years, and injecting over HK10 billion annually into the local economy.

• The Government introduced the limited partnership fund (LPF) regime from August 2020 to attract private investment funds to set up and operate in Hong Kong in the form of limited partnerships. As at end-March 2026, over 1,488 LPFs that have remained registered in Hong Kong.

• IPOs – In the first three months of 2026, funds raised through IPOs in Hong Kong exceeded HK$109.9 billion, making the city the leading IPO market globally.

• In May 2025, the SFC and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, jointly announced the launch of a dedicated Technology Enterprises Channel (TECH) to further facilitate New Listing applications from prospective Specialist Technology Companies and Biotech Companies, as well as a new confidential filing option for these companies.

• HKEX introduced FINI (Fast Interface for New Issuance) in October 2023 – a new digital platform that modernises the IPO settlement process and shorten the time gap between IPO pricing and trading, giving investors quicker access to new listings, reducing market risk and improving efficiency for all parties involved. Upon completion of the FINI system enhancement on 13 April 2025, which enriched system functionalities and improved the overall user experience, the FINI platform now provides the flexibility to designate a separate Designated Bank Account dedicated exclusively for EIPO money settlement.

• The HKMA, together with the banking sector, introduced in April 2025 sector-specific support measures to assist more SMEs in obtaining bank financing and in their upgrade and transformation. Since the launch of the “9+5” SME support measures in 2024, more than 89,000 SMEs have benefited from these measures, involving an aggregate credit limit of over HK$209 billion.

A unique feature of Hong Kong is its highly diverse range of fintech companies operating in a variety of industry sectors:

• The FinTech companies in 2025 are from a broad range of sectors including wealthTech, blockchain application/software, payments and remittances, digital assets and cryptocurrency, insurTech, credit-Tech, regTech, cybersecurity, and green Fintech and others.

• FinTech companies benefit from being in close proximity to the world’s largest financial institutions across banking, insurance, asset management and payments. Over 70 of the largest 100 banks in the world have a presence in Hong Kong and 15 out of 29 globally systematically important banks have their regional headquarters in the city.

• Digital Banks - Since 2019, the HKMA has issued 8 digital banking licenses.

• Insurance - Since 2018, the IA has issued virtual insurance to 4 insurtech companies.

Hong Kong has one of Asia’s richest ecosystem of public and private organisations to accelerate, invest and support FinTech companies. Some of the key organisations supporting FinTech companies include:

• Cyberport - A business park and ecosystem for digital companies, housing over 440 fintech firms. Cyberport also operates a private equity fund to invest in FinTech start-ups.

• The Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Corporation (HKSTP), the city’s largest R&D base with over 2,500 technology companies and 16,000 R&D practitioners, providing research and development infrastructure across the city. The Shenzhen branch is opened in September 2023 to support local and global I&T enterprises to capture Mainland market opportunities and attract talents, enterprises and investment to the GBA and beyond, which targets to house around 150 enterprises.

• The Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP or The Hong Kong Park) located in the Northern Metropolis of Hong Kong, is established under the vision of “one river, two banks” and “one zone, two parks” under the auspices of “One Country, Two Systems.”. HSITP is committed to developing into a world-class I&T hub connecting the Chinese Mainland and the rest of the world, as well as act as a crucial source of new quality productive forces for our country.

• Innovation Labs – Many world-renowned innovation laboratories have established a presence in Hong Kong, including Standard Chartered’s eXellerator, DBS Startup Xchange, Intact Lab Hong Kong, HSBC’s ASTRI Research and Development Innovation Lab, HKEX Innovation Lab, Bank for International Settlements (BIS); IBM Innovation Center, Deloitte's Asia-pacific Blockchain Lab, PwC’s Emerging Technology Lab, ‘Nordic Innovation House’, MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node, and the TusPark owned by Tsinghua University-backed Tus-Holdings.

• Accelerators – Many financial institutions have set up accelerators to promote cooperation among regulators, customers, business partners and technology companies. This includes Accenture’s FinTech Innovation Lab, Helix, Loopnest Blockchain Acceleration Programme, Betatron, and Hype Asia. Other notable accelerators include the ‘DBS Accelerator’ operated by DBS and venture capital firm Nest.

• InvestHK is the HKSAR Government’s dedicated investment promotion agency, providing free, confidential and customised support for companies to establish and expand in Hong Kong and to use the city as a platform for outbound investment. It delivers sector-specific advice, coordinates with relevant government bodies and professional service providers, and offers ongoing aftercare to foster sustained inward and outward business growth. InvestHK also works closely with other government departments to reflect investor feedback in policy design, strengthen the overall business environment and enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness as an international investment hub. For more information, please visit www.investhk.gov.hk.

• Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK Festival (HKFW x SMUF) 2025 was successfully held from 3 to 7 Nov. The entire week attracted a record high of over 45 000 visitors from over 120 economies and featured over 1 000 distinguished speakers, over 800 exhibitors and more than 30 Chinese Mainland and international delegations. The Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK 2026 will be held from 2 to 6 November, please visit www.fintechweek.hk for further updates.

• Global Fast Track helps global fintech and other tech businesses be viable, visible and scalable via Hong Kong to Asia and beyond by connecting them to corporates, investors and service providers. Global Fast Track 2025 attracted over 700 applicants from 70 economies, culminating in an in-person final pitch at the main conference where entrepreneurs presented their solutions to investors, regulators and corporate partners. United States-based Speratum Biopharma Inc was crowned the winner of the International Category, while First Quadrant was the winner of the Chinese Mainland Category.

Website: https://www.hongkong-fintech.hk/
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