香港金融創新落後於對手

Some months ago, when Joe Tsai of Alibaba addressed a seminar in Hong Kong on his firm’s financial strategy,

幾個月前，阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的蔡崇信(Joe Tsai)在香港一場研討會上就阿里巴巴的金融戰略發言。

the first hand that shot up when he invited questions belonged to a Hong Kong insurance regulator.

當他請大家提問時，第一個舉手的人來自香港的保險監管機構。

You say you are interested in internet insurance, the bureaucrat said.

你說你們對互聯網保險感興趣，這位官員說。

I want to make sure when you come to Hong Kong, you get a proper licence.

我想確保你們來香港時，獲得適當的牌照。

On the YouTube recording of the event, the shocked laughter of the audience is clearly discernible as Mr Tsai graciously responds: If we do come, we will get a licence — and seek your advice.

在YouTube上的該活動錄像中，蔡崇信彬彬有禮的回答引起觀衆們清楚可辨的震驚笑聲：如果我們真來香港，我們將獲得牌照——並尋求您的建議。

Then, just a few days ago, Mr Tsai’s partner, Jack Ma, criticised the listing rules for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as designed decades ago for property developers, financiers and traditional retailers and . . . not relevant to start-ups and new businesses.

然後，就在幾天前，蔡崇信的合夥人馬雲(Jack Ma)批評了港交所(HKex)的上市規則，稱其是幾十年前的設計，適合地產商、銀行、金融機構及傳統零售商，但與初創企業以及新業務企業並不相關。

He may have been motivated, in part, by his own run-ins with the local rules: the territory refused to amend its regulations to permit Alibaba’s proposed structure, so it listed in New York.

他發出批評的部分原因或許是他本人與當地規則的衝突：香港拒絕爲了放行阿里巴巴的股權結構而修改上市規則，所以阿里巴巴最終在紐約上市。

But his remarks still resonated with investors in the territory.

但他的話仍在當地投資者當中產生了共鳴。

Similarly, the co-founder of a fintech firm in Shanghai with Alibaba links recently gave an interview to a Shanghai paper in which he noted that,

同樣，上海一家與阿里巴巴有關聯的金融科技公司的聯合創始人最近接受了上海一家報紙的採訪。

at some point, his firm might consider establishing an office in Hong Kong.

他在採訪中提到，他的公司或許會考慮在某個時候到香港設立辦事處。

To his surprise, he soon received a message from a different bureaucrat in the Hong Kong government, reminding him of the licenses he would require.

令他吃驚的是，他很快收到另一名香港政府官員的信息，提醒他需要辦理的牌照。

The message he took from this, he says, is: You are not welcome here.

他說，他從中得到的信息是：這裏不歡迎你來。

Yet this same fintech firm is likely to receive a big equity cheque from Singapore Inc in its next funding round, which will value it at more than $1bn.

然而，這家金融科技公司很可能在下一輪融資中獲得來自新加坡企業的大筆投資，其估值將超過10億美元。

To the wider Hong Kong community, these frosty exchanges between corporates and regulators are signs that the Hong Kong government is unimaginative and unsupportive when it comes to encouraging innovation in finance —

對於整體香港社會來說，企業和監管機構之間這些冷淡的交流表明，在鼓勵金融創新方面，香港政府缺乏想象力而且態度不大支持。

an area in which the city has had a competitive edge.

香港本來在金融領域有競爭優勢。

Some warn that rival cities, such as Singapore and Shenzhen, are now doing far more.

有些人警告稱，新加坡和深圳等對手城市目前的動作力度比香港大得多。

Hong Kong has nurtured start-ups in the past but has then seen the founders move elsewhere — often to Shenzhen, across the border in China, where human capital and physical space is more abundant and affordable.

香港過去培育出不少創業企業，但後來發現創業者遷往其他地方，經常是到對岸的深圳，那裏的人力資本和物理空間更大，成本更可接受。

For example, DJI, the world’s largest drone company, was first conceived at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology but now calls Shenzhen home.

例如，世界上最大無人機公司大疆創新(DJI)最初是在香港科技大學(Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)構想出來的，但現在以深圳爲家。

Indeed, Shenzhen has leapfrogged Hong Kong in attracting new economy companies, in part because of its plentiful supply of engineers, its supportive local government policies, and its distance from the sometimes toxic politics of Beijing.

事實上，深圳在吸引新經濟公司方面已勝過了香港，部分原因在於深圳工程師數量衆多、地方政府採取支持政策，以及遠離北京有時緊張的政治。

It is home not only to internet companies such as Tencent, but also data mining firms and medical technology.

深圳不僅是騰訊(Tencent)等互聯網企業的大本營，也是數據挖掘和醫療技術公司的基地。

Similarly, a list of fintech start-ups in Singapore compiled by CLSA using data from website Tech in Asia includes almost 180 firms.

同樣，里昂證券(CLSA)利用Tech in Asia的數據彙編的一份新加坡金融科技創業企業名單包括了近180家公司。

By contrast, a comparable list for Hong Kong would have less than half that number.

相比之下，香港可比名單的長度將不到新加坡的一半。

Singapore’s local regulator appears to be highly supportive of fintech and has a clear view of when and under what conditions it will regulate the industry, says Jonathan Galligan, CLSA’s head of Singapore research.

新加坡當地監管機構似乎高度支持金融科技，並對在何時以及何種條件下對該行業實施監管有清晰的想法，里昂證券新加坡研究主管喬納森.加里根(Jonathan Galligan)說。

That brings risks for existing performers.

這給現有企業帶來風險。

In Singapore, Mr Galligan’s colleague, Christopher Wood, refers to the threat of disruption from government-prompted efforts to promote a new digital economy — be it in fintech, ecommerce, data technologies, transport, cleantech or the so-called sharing economy in general.

在新加坡，加里根的同事克里斯多弗.伍德(Christopher Wood)提到了政府努力推動新數字經濟——無論是金融科技、電子商務、數據技術、交通運輸、清潔技術還是一般意義上所謂的共享經濟——帶來的顛覆威脅。

Still, Singapore appears to realise that a government that defines its mission as protecting the interests of the establishment will merely accelerate the decline of that establishment.

然而，新加坡似乎意識到，一個把自己使命定爲保護成熟企業利益的政府，只會加速成熟企業的衰落。

So far, its stance is paying off.

到目前爲止，這一立場產生了回報。

Supportive government policies and the strongest ecosystem in Asia have already spawned the early stages of a new economy, Mr Galligan says.

支持性的政府政策和亞洲最強大的生態系統，已催生了新經濟的早期階段，加里根說。

To be sure, there are some initiatives in Hong Kong that are attempting to kick-start innovation.

誠然，香港也有一些嘗試推動創新的舉措。

In July, Sequoia Capital China partnered with a group of Hong Kong-based professors and the heads of its three leading universities to launch the Hong Kong X-Tech Startup Platform.

7月，紅杉中國(Sequoia Capital China)與香港的一羣教授和三所頂尖大學的校長合作推出了香港X科技創業平臺(Hong Kong X-Tech Startup Platform)。

It will recruit professors to serve as mentors for students in robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, pharma, medical devices, electronics and fin tech.

該平臺將招聘教授擔任導師，在機器人、人工智能、大數據、製藥、醫療設備、電子和金融科技方面爲學員提供指導。

Sequoia China’s founder Neil Shen has donated HK$300m as a catalyst.

紅杉中國的創始人沈南鵬(Neil Shen)已捐贈3億港元作爲催化資金。

But it will take far more than that to reinvent Hong Kong.

但要重建香港，僅做到這些還遠遠不夠。