Hong Kong and Shenzhen forge close ties in finance and AI to build world-class fintech hub

Hong Kong and Shenzhen can work closely to empower finance with artificial intelligence, delegates said on Thursday at the China Conference: Greater Bay Area, an event hosted by the South China Morning Post.\nJoseph Chan Ho-lim, undersecretary for Financial Services and the Treasury in the Hong Kong government, said Hong Kong and Shenzhen were seeking deeper cooperation between finance and technology.\nChen said at the event in Qianhai, a bonded zone in Shenzhen, that Hong Kong, as a “super-connector” and “super value adder”, could leverage its strength in financial services to support Shenzhen in technology and industrial finance, with the shared ambition of building “a world-class fintech hub”.\n“We are also working closely with Qianhai to advance deeper integration between technology and finance across both cities,” Chan said. To do so, Hong Kong would encourage Hong Kong fintech firms to set up subsidiaries and support Shenzhen technology firms to leverage Hong Kong’s capital market.\nXiao Ting, the chairman and executive director at the Bank of Communications (Hong Kong), said AI and finance could empower each other, and the bank had tagged AI as a key area to offer financial support while aligning with Beijing’s AI-plus strategy.\nIn Hong Kong, the bank’s outstanding loans to tech firms increased by a “three-digit rate” in 2025, and it led a consortium to lend US$100 million to a leading AI company. Xiao did not name the client.\nThe China conference is designed to bring together leaders and industry experts to discuss opportunities and challenges within the Greater Bay Area, a region covering Hong Kong and Macau as well as Shenzhen and Guangzhou.\nTammy Tam, the publisher of the South China Morning Post, said in her welcome note that the Greater Bay Area also showcased “the best of collaboration”, with each city contributing its unique strengths.\nHong Kong fulfilled its role as the international financial centre and a super-connector between mainland China and the world, and Shenzhen offered technological innovation capacity, including robotics, Tam said.\nShe added that 2026 would be important for the region thanks to the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit later this year.\nTo navigate a world full of unprecedented challenges and transformations from geopolitical tensions to AI, trusted sources of information and dependable networks would become more critical than ever, she said.\n