HKIC

Speech by the Chief Executive Officer at HKIC x WeLab Strategic Partnership Kick-off Ceremony (10 April 2025)

Financial Secretary, Deputy Consul-General of Thailand, Simon, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning.  A very warm welcome to all of you for joining us today for the strategic partnership kick-off ceremony between the Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited (“HKIC”) and WeLab, as well as the Summit on “Pioneering AI-Finance ‧ Powering Asia’s Digital Finance” right after the ceremony.

The HKIC

The strategic partnership kick-off and Summit mark another milestone of the HKIC’s investment journey.  As Patient Capital with a focus on nurturing New Quality Productive Forces, we have announced 3 key investment themes, namely, Hard & Core Technology, Biotech, and Green and New Energy Technology, as well as the relevant applications.  To take forward these themes, we have been proactively sourcing projects and partners which align well with and bring value to our dual mandate, which is to seek medium to long-term reasonable financial return, and strategic benefits to Hong Kong in terms of supporting the innovation and technology (“I&T”) industry as well as other key industries. As of today, we have invested in more than 100 projects. Every Hong Kong dollar invested by the HKIC has attracted over 4 Hong Kong dollars from long-term capital for investment.

This year, we are pressing full steam ahead towards 3 major directions.  

  1. Firstly, the 3 “A”s, which is to facilitate our investee companies to make their products “Accessible, Applicable and Affordable” to the society, in addition to achieving financial return by their business;

  2. secondly, more collaboration and synergy, including the establishment of regional and international platforms to support our investee companies in expanding their business and network, and accelerating their products application and upgrading; and

  3. thirdly, cross-sectoral and adjacent opportunities relating to or arising from the development of the 3 key investment themes mentioned above.


WeLab

 

The investment in and strategic partnership with WeLab is one of our examples of translating the above directions into actions.  

  1. Regarding our 3 “A”s aspiration, WeLab is developing not only its B2B but also B2C business.  As of today, it is serving more than 70 million individual users and 700 enterprise customers across Asia;

  2. on our focus on collaboration and synergy, WeLab has continued its expansion beyond Hong Kong particularly to Belt & Road (“B&R”) jurisdictions such as Southeast Asia (“SE Asia”) markets including Thailand and Indonesia; and

  3. on cross-sectoral and adjacent investment opportunities, WeLab has already integrated artificial intelligence (“AI”) into its provision of financial services.  For instance, it AI-powered KYC process has integrated edge computing, natural language processing and image recognition technologies to reduce manual review time significantly by 70% while ensuring compliance with anti-money laundering regulations.


Shared Vision on AI-Powered Development and SE Asia Collaboration

 

Looking ahead, we believe that the ongoing developments of WeLab would align well with the HKIC’s game plan, particularly on promoting AI development in Hong Kong and bringing Hong Kong’s I&T DNA abroad.

 

AI is at the core of developing New Quality Productive Forces.  In addition to the example on AI-powered KYC process that I shared earlier, WeLab has already announced the adoption of DeepSeek to enhance customer experience while achieving security, compliance and efficiency.  More will come to benefit customers as WeLab continues its journey to explore and apply AI.  

 

WeLab is also a vivid story of how a company born and raised in Hong Kong could bring with it Hong Kong’s I&T DNA and shine internationally.  Its development in B&R jurisdictions such as SE Asia is impressive.  For instance in Indonesia, they launched the digital bank Bank Saqu and was able to attract over 2 million users within the first year.  In Thailand, they are partnering with Lightnet to apply for the first batch of virtual banking licenses.  Today, we are very honoured to have the presence of the representatives from the Consulate General of Thailand to join us on this special occasion. 

 

Similar to WeLab, the HKIC also sees good market potential in B&R jurisdictions.  Among our different efforts to capture the opportunities, we will host the inaugural “International Forum for Patient Capital” in May, which will curate synergy with Patient Capital institutions from around the world, and bridge capital and opportunities.  On SE Asia, we will lead a delegation there next quarter to facilitate our investee companies and partners to expand their business and network.  More initiatives will be unveiled in due course.

 

To cement the shared vision, the HKIC and WeLab has entered into a strategic partnership, under which WeLab will, among other things:

  1. support the investee companies in the HKIC ecosystem to expand business and network to SE Asia, on the basis of WeLab’s footprint there;

  2. explore to establish partnerships with universities and secondary schools in Hong Kong to enhance interdisciplinary talent development, with opportunities of internship and sponsored visits to the overseas operation of WeLab;

  3. support summits or programmes organised by the Hong Kong Government relating to Asia fintech and AI development, bringing together top experts and talents in the I&T industry and fostering cross-sector collaboration; and

  4. consider Hong Kong as a priority venue for their initial public offering.



Closing

 

Since the establishment of the HKIC, the ecosystem of our investee companies and strategic partners has been rapidly growing.  With WeLab as another name added to our ecosystem today, we look forward to fostering a vibrant ecosystem where I&T can thrive, and bringing further growth momentum to Hong Kong’s economy and society.  We are also pleased to share that the Summit right after the ceremony represents the first deliverable under this strategic partnership, which will support and showcase the differentiating strengths of Hong Kong, including our status as an international financial center, international I&T center and international hub for high-calibre talents.  Thank you once again for joining us today!