In September, unveiling a fintech innovation initiative resembling one previously launched by Singapore’s central bank (see Sopnendu Mohanty, No. 34), Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Norman Chan sought to debunk what he termed “a quite commonly held perception that the development of fintech in the financial services sector in Hong Kong has been slow.” Although it may not match Singapore’s level of activity, Hong Kong has been heating up for at least the two years since Janos Barberis founded FinTech Hong Kong. The networking and events hub currently lists on its website 64 start-ups — P2P lender 5D Lend Co. and Bitcoin exchange Gatecoin, to name two — and claims nearly 2,000 “influencers, mentors, and enthusiasts” as members. CEO Barberis also brought to the Hong Kong ecosystem the SuperCharger accelerator, which offers mentoring and other assistance to what it calls start-ups and scale-ups, with supporting partners that include Fidelity International, Standard Chartered, and Thomson Reuters. Eight winners, including Gatecoin and Chinese credit scoring company Wecash, presented at the inaugural demo day, in April. SuperCharger went on a road show in September and October, stopping at Bangalore, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Shanghai, and Singapore; its second 12-week accelerator program starts in January. “The world is looking east,” proclaims Barberis, noting that while U.S. and European fintech funding declined in the first quarter, Asia was up 20 percent year-over-year. To the 28-year-old, who earned a law degree at the University of Hong Kong, worked at U.K. challenger bank Lintel Financial Services, and co-edited The Fintech Book (published by John Wiley & Sons in April), Hong Kong is an ideal base. He is plugged in locally as a member of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission fintech advisory group and from there is able to monitor high-tech hotbeds on the Chinese mainland and, in other emerging markets, how digital-identity and know-your-customer technologies make banks more easily accessible and promote financial inclusion. “This has true transformative potential and shows how Asia, and particularly India, is paving the way in terms of the potential achievable with fintech,” Barberis says.
 1. Jonathan Korngold General Atlantic  2. Matthew Harris Bain Capital Ventures  3. Jane Gladstone Evercore Partners  4. James Robinson III & James Robinson IV RRE Ventures  5. Steven McLaughlin Financial Technology Partners  6. Amy Nauiokas & Sean Park Anthemis Group |
 7. Richard Garman & Brad Bernstein FTV Capital  8. Gerard von Dohlen Broadhaven Capital Partners  9. Darren Cohen Goldman Sachs Group  10. Hans Morris Nyca Partners  11. Meyer (Micky) Malka Ribbit Capital  12. Maria Gotsch Partnership Fund for New York City |
 13. Barry Silbert Digital Currency Group  14. Jay Reinemann Propel Venture Partners  15. Mariano Belinky Santander InnoVentures  16. Justin Brownhill & Neil DeSena SenaHill Partners  17. François Robinet AXA Strategic Ventures  18. Vanessa Colella Citi Ventures |
 19. Michael Schlein Accion International  20. Kenneth Marlin Marlin & Associates  21. Rumi Morales CME Ventures  22. Alastair (Alex) Rampell Andreessen Horowitz  23. Steve Gibson Euclid Opportunities  24. Fabian Vandenreydt SWIFT |
 25. Vladislav Solodkiy Life.SREDA  26. Gardiner Garrard III TTV Capital  27. Nektarios Liolios Startupbootcamp Fintech  28. Lawrence Wintermeyer Innovate Finance  29. Bina Kalola Bank of America Merrill Lynch  30. Hyder Jaffrey Fintech Innovation |
 31. Calvin Choi AMTD Group  32. Janos Barberis FinTech Hong Kong  33. Jalak Jobanputra Future Perfect Ventures  34. Sopnendu Mohanty Monetary Authority of Singapore  35. Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel Rakuten FinTech Fund |