- HSBC hosted its inaugural Asia Fintech Summit 2026 in Hong Kong, bringing together nearly 150 clients, including fintech founders, institutional investors, corporate executives and regulatory leaders.
The first HSBC Asia Fintech Summit brought together fintech founders, investors, regulators, and business leaders to share ideas, study market trends, explore opportunities and build new partnerships.
At the Hong Kong event on August 21, 2026, nearly 150 clients gathered to discuss Asia’s top growth drivers, including AI solutions, financial inclusion, digital payments and asset tokenization.
In addition to the main sessions, the event hosted over 40 private meetings between businesses and investors, helping connect promising ideas with the money needed to fund them.
Jo Miyake, Head of Banking for Asia and the Middle East at HSBC, opened the event by telling attendees that artificial intelligence, digital assets and digital currencies are supercharging how banks and fintechs work together.
“Our role extends beyond standard banking to acting as a provider of catalytic capital and services,” he noted. “As the only bank with a global Innovation Banking franchise we bank fintechs partnering with them strategically across our tech stack and invest in them through HSBC Ventures.”
Miyake praised Hong Kong’s financial leadership pointing to its status as the world’s top IPO market last year and its vital role as a gateway for mainland Chinese companies seeking capital.
Officials from top Hong Kong financial bodies and the local Fintech Association highlighted the city’s key strengths including global liquidity, strong investor access and a clear regulatory and legal framework for public listings.
During a panel led by Chuan He, HSBC’s Head of Fintech Investment Banking for Asia, founders from Micro Connect, Surfin and WeLab discussed how fintechs are driving financial inclusion across Asia by expanding access to underbanked populations. The panel also highlighted how these platforms are integrating AI into operations and exploring new practical use cases.
Chuan mentioned the two major hurdles facing fintechs: early-stage startups must first convince investors of their business model and securing continuous access to long-term capital to sustain growth.
Chuan noted that the summit brought fintech founders and investors together for direct dialogues matching capital with key opportunities while engaging regulators in the conversation.
Jonathan Yip, HSBC’s Head of Innovation Banking for Asia moderated a session on the growing innovation corridor between Asia and the Middle East, highlighting how cross-border business models have diversified and formed mutually beneficial partnerships.
The panel emphasized that building strong human relationships based on trust is essential for long-term cross-border connectivity.
In an afternoon session, Chito Jeyarajah, HSBC’s Head of Capital Markets and Advisory for Asia outlined five key trends driving Asia’s evolving financial landscape: digital lending, digital assets and tokenization, the growth of mass affluent wealth, insurtech and AI.
Attendees learned how digital lending fintechs leverage AI to evaluate risk, debug software, streamline operations and support business growth for their clients.
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Stablecoins and digital assets took center stage due to their round-the-clock liquidity and instant cross-border settlement capabilities. However, speakers mentioned that the primary hurdles remaining are building public trust to drive broader adoption and identifying real-world use cases that deliver tangible value to customers.
Chuan noted that HSBC launched the annual summit to connect founders and investors with the bank’s expertise positioning HSBC at the center to advise, partner with and invest in fintechs while turning insights into action.
Chuan concluded with the hope that founders gained clear pathways to funding, investors discovered promising startups across sectors, and corporate leaders took away practical insights into embedded finance, global payments, AI integration and digital assets.
