HKU Faculty of Business and Economics undergraduate students won top prizes in the HSBC Financial Dialogue Series 2019 – Financial Innovation Case Study. This initiative is part of the HSBC Future Skills Development Project, which organised by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups.

The final presentation was held on 17 August, brought together different university teams and business leaders who joined as the judges. Under the topic of “Enhance customers’ experience of financial capability by increasing awareness of risk and security on wealth management through a tech‐driven solution”, students were asked to develop innovative solutions with the use of technology, e.g. mobile application, platform that serves users to enhance customer experience, especially in a financial capability perspective. Through preparing a thorough analysis and proposal, students are able to develop critical thinking skills and unleash their creativity.

Team “Sequoia”, formed by six Year 3 FBE students, has proposed the concept of virtual credit card and won the Championship in the contest. The team said, “Coming up with the idea of using virtual credit card, we have explored new areas such as engineering and financial technology, and reviewed the existing situation of credit card fraud. The most challenging part in this case study was to project the effectiveness and financials of our solutions, and to employ models that are backed by comprehensive researches and grounded assumptions”.

“Our team consists of members of very different specialisation, backgrounds and internship experiences. The success attributed to our teammates’ strengths in respective areas and the seamless collaboration among all”.

Members of the Champion Team Sequoia are:
Pak Hin CHEUNG, BEcon&Fin, Year 3
Chin Yin KONG, BEcon&Fin, Year 3
Ho Leung LAM, BBA, Year 3
Yi Lam Yvonne HUI, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 3
Tsz To LAM, BEcon&Fin, Year 3
Jennifer Wing Yee NGAI, BBA(Acc&Fin), Year 3

Two FBE students in Team Finnovators, which won the 1st Runner-up, are:
Pak Siu CHOW, BEcon&Fin, Year 3
Sai On TSUI, BBA(IS), Year 4

The “Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China” Summer Programme 2019 kick-started on 24 June 2019 with an opening ceremony to welcome 29 students from HKU Faculty of Business and Economics and other overseas institutions in Australia, US, UK, Canada and Mainland China. The group has embarked their entrepreneurship journey in Hong Kong, and will later head to Zhuhai, Macau, Jiangmen, Guangzhou, Huizhou and Shenzhen to explore the boundless future in China’s Greater Bay Area in the coming three weeks.

Providing students with a deeper understanding of economics, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the context of business practices in the Greater Bay Area, this summer programme has arranged different company visits to China Resources, DHL, E Fund, Huawei, Lee Kum Kee, Hong Kong Science Park and The Mills. Students can also learn from sharing by industry professionals from Alibaba, IDEA Intellectual and Microsoft.

The annual ACCA Hong Kong Business Competition equips accounting and business students with accounting, business analysis and communication skills employers demand. 

The Competition this year was themed 'Social Intelligence – from local excellence to global vision'. Two social enterprises that have global or regional footprint are expanding their presence into Hong Kong. Contesting students were required to pick one out of the two social enterprise case studies, and develop a business proposal to optimise their business operations in Hong Kong. Finalists presented their proposals to the competition’s vetting committee, including Social Enterprise Business Centre representatives.

To help students prepare for the challenge, ACCA-qualified accounting professional acted as coaches for the Top 20 teams. A series of workshops were also provided to polish students’ business analytical, proposal writing, communication and presentation skills.

The Faculty and the students have won a total of six prizes in this competition.  With students’ enthusiastic participation, FBE has won the Top Participating Award. Two teams of FBE students also won five other awards including the 1st and 2nd Runner-up. Congratulations to them! Members of the two teams and the awards they obtained are:

1st Runner-up, Best Proposal Award, Creative Excellence Award, Best Presenter Award (Ho Chun Sum Sam*) – Team Appino 

Mr. Chan Chun Hin, BBA, Year 2 (1st from left)

Miss Chau Wing Ki, BBA(Acc&Fin), Year 2 (2nd from left)

Mr. Ho Chun Sum Sam*, BBA(Acc&Fin), Year 2 (2nd from right)

Mr. San Kwo Chin, BBA(Acc&Fin), Year 2 (1st from right)

2nd Runner-up – Team VRilliant

Mr. Chang Yoonseok, BBA(Acc&Fin), Year 4 (2nd from left)

Mr. Lee Seung Ju, BEcon&Fin, Year 4 (1st from left)

Mr. Rhee Donsung, BEcon&Fin, Year 4 (1st from right)

Mr. Yang Ji Woong, BEcon&Fin, Year 4 (2nd from right)

Coming to its 8th year, the Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) HKU Chapter has inducted 105 undergraduate and postgraduate students at the ceremony held on 26 April 2019. Two esteemed business leaders, Dr. Anna YIP, Chief Executive Officer of SmarTone, and Mr. Henri ARSLANIAN, FinTech & Crypto Leader in Asia of PwC, were conferred the BGS HKU Chapter Honorees.

Professor Zhigang TAO, Acting Dean of Faculty of Business and Economics, welcomed the guests and expressed his congratulations to students inducted into the Beta Gama Sigma, “This prestigious life-time membership serves as an extensive global networking platform, where you can connect with a lot of intelligent and high calibre individuals just like you, and enjoy meaningful exchange on academic, professional and personal development”.

At the ceremony, the two Chapter Honorees shared their interesting stories to the students. With extensive experience in consulting and management, Dr. Anna Yip summarised her experiences in three different stages: Experiment, Grit and Radiation. In her early years of career, Dr. Yip was not very certain of what her direction was but kept experimenting with exciting ideas and tasks, “When looking back, it is sometimes how the dots connected them years later, about what you experimented turns out to be relevant experience some years later”.

Dr. Yip also mentioned that during her 13 years work in a consulting firm, she realised the importance of having the power of grit — a blend of passion, resilience and physical endurance in a sustained basis. The stage of radiation came when she became the leader in a telecom company. In the highly competitive and volatile industry, Dr. Yip emphasised on practicing leading innovations and collective genius, “My success is built on other people’s success. It is the collective effort of my teams.”

She strongly believed that effective intrapreneurship — cultivating a start-up culture within an organisation — would be very useful for business growth and talent management.

Mr. Henri Arslanian, a pioneer and prominent figure in the FinTech sector, inspired the audience with the “10-S” principles he lives by. He started with asking students to “Sit on the edge of your seat”. The constantly changing landscape and tremendous use of technology in different sectors make the job market more competing now, and in the future. Mr. Arslanian told students his career changes along the years and how these changes led to where he was, “Never sit comfortably, but sit on the edge. Making the big decisions that will impact your careers.” 

He further advised students to always seize the opportunities around, capture the shifts happening in society, and to set straight goals in life, “If you don’t put very straight-setting goals, you will be like driving around the desert and never knowing what the road is.” Encouraging students to treasure the school of life, Mr. Arslanian ended his speech affirming the importance of staying healthy, grateful and humble, be selective in life, and to serve the community.

For the video of the Honorees’ speeches and event highlights, please click here.

About Beta Gamma Sigma

Established in 1907 in the U.S., Beta Gamma Sigma is the international honor society serving business programmes accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive. Since 1913, Beta Gamma Sigma has inducted more than 700,000 outstanding students in more than 160 countries around the world.

About BGS HKU Chapter

The BGS HKU Chapter was installed in 2012. Since its inception, over 400 students were inducted. The lifelong membership conveys academic excellence, a commitment to high principle and superior achievement. Eligible students must attain CGPA of at least 3.60 and simultaneously be on the Dean’s Honour List and be on the top 10% of their respective undergraduate or postgraduate programme.

Dr. Anna Yip is conferred the BGS HKU Chapter Honoree.

Mr. Henri Arslanian is presented the BGS HKU Chapter Honoree by Professor Zhigang Tao.

BSc(QFin) Year 3 student Miss Tao Mat Hay beat teams of university students and won the 2^nd Runner-up of the Treasury Markets Association Challenge 2018 on her own.

The competition aims at enriching students with professional knowledge on offshore Renminbi products. The TMA invited seven large institutions to provide internship interview opportunities to the winners. Thomson Reuters organised a technical training to assist the participants with their project. Each registered team was also offered a trial account of Thomson Reuter’s Flagship Market Data and Analytic Tools.

Each participating team was required to submit a report of their predicted 1Y tenor of Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate in offshore Renminbi & Hong Kong Dollar published on a designated day. 18 submissions were received and 6 teams shortlisted to present to the panel of judges at the final.