“Where Atlanta and China’s Great Bay Area meet”
August 14, 2019, Atlanta, Georgia
HOSTS: HK Association of Atlanta (HKAA)
Georgia State University Confucius Institute
PARTNERS: America Israel Business Connector, Deloitte Tax LLP
Technology Association of Georgia’s FinTech Society
The Carter Center, & World Trade Center Atlanta
This is the third time the co-hosts have put together excellent business programs benefiting the Atlanta companies and community. This year’s Forum is another success with over 150 attendees (full house at Cypress Room of Carter Center). The theme of the Forum is to provide an update on FinTech’s ecosystem in Georgia via updating various segments of the business. In addition, the Forum aims to educate US and Atlanta firms on FinTech space in Asia, led by HK/China/Japan as well as discussion on Greater Bay Area and its significance on FinTech development in Asia. It explores future cooperation between Georgia and Asia on FinTech business.
Gene Hanratty, Senior Consultant of the HK Economic Trade Office NYC and Dr. Wolfgang Schlor, Associate Provost for International Affairs of GSU delivered Opening Remarks. HKAA President Henry Yu and HKAA Board members Norman Cheng of JPMC and Homing Tam of Delta were also in attendance.
The hosts expressed our gratitude and support from our Partners listed above. In addition, our corporate sponsors have provided us funding for this forum to take place and thanks to GSU, Deloitte, Aprio LLP, Farmers Basket, GT Software, Hall Booth Smith P.C, HKTDC NYC, HKETO NYC, JPMC, KPMG, Loyal Trust Bank, NACA, Regions Bank, Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP, STS Worldwide, The Carter Center, and Worldpay from FIS.
Morning Panel discussion was moderated by Trevor Williams,
Managing Editor of Global Atlanta. Speakers were:
Anna Fan, Director of the NYC Office of HK Trade Development Council
Stephen D. Hassett, COO of GT Software
Scott Stewart, East Coast Tax Crypto/Blockchain Lead, Deloitte Tax LLP
Delray Wannemacher, Chair, Blockchain Holdings Capital Ventures Inc
The Panel focused on updates of FinTech development which included Open Banking, real time cross border payments, digital assets, crypto currencies, blockchain technology, funding/capital raise as well as the tax implication of digital assets and transactions both domestically and internationally. Discussion also touched upon FinTech space in Asia led by China, HK, Japan, with Greater Bay Area of China getting substantial investments from Asian economies. Discussed unicorns of both USA and Asia including names like Amazon, Microsoft, Face Bank, Softbank, Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, etc.
Lunch Fireside Chat was moderated by Jonathan Langlois, Director of Financial Services & Advisory, KPMG, with the following speakers:
Dennis Lockhart, Past President/CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Tommy Marshall, FinTech Executive in Residence, Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center
Henry Yu, COO of Asian Investors Consortium & HKAA President
To kick off the Fireside Chat, a 7-minute video on Ant Financial was played. Fireside Chat focused on reviewing Georgia’s FinTech ecosystem, as well as the recent M&A activities including Worldpay FIS merger, First Data’s combining with Fiserv. Georgia is currently top 2 in FinTech in the country capturing over 70% of all credit card payment transactions. Georgia is well positioned to growing its importance with strong commitments of local groups such as TAG, Tech Alpharetta, ATDC, Atlanta Tech, MAC and GDEC. Speakers also discussed domestic regulations and compliance aspects of FinTech. Briefly reviewed opportunities of Asian FinTech space in terms of geography and segments. HK/China/Japan will play a key role directing FinTech traffic in Asia with ASEAN a very bright spot for Georgia firms. Segments of business include insurance, compliance, credit/lending, micro and SBA lending, and payments. HK and Greater Bay Area is the gateway to Asian FinTech activities and development.
August 13, 2019 FinTech VIP Reception
HKAA corporate member Hall Booth Smith hosted a pre-forum Reception at its law office downtown. About 40 plus VIP guests enjoyed a great networking with few speakers, corporate sponsors and few local FinTech firms and friends.
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Summary provided by Henry Yu, HKAA
Chinese translation by Jeff Zhang of GSU