Hong Kong Bank of East Asia Celebrates Inauguration of BEA Tower in China Shenzhen City Qianhai as a Strategic Hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area & Celebrates 105th Anniversary
14th January 2024 | Hong Kong
Hong Kong-headquartered Bank of East Asia has celebrated the inauguration of BEA Tower (12/1/24) in China Shenzhen City Qianhai, with BEA Tower as Bank of East Asia’s strategic hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the inauguration also celebrating the bank’s 105th anniversary. The Bank of East Asia: “The Bank of East Asia, Limited (“BEA” or the “Bank”) today celebrated the inauguration of BEA Tower in Qianhai, its strategic hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (“GBA”). The occasion coincides with the Bank’s 105th anniversary, marking a significant milestone in BEA’s century-long development on the Chinese Mainland and its dedication to the GBA’s development … … BEA Tower has 18 floors and 5 underground levels. It houses BEA China’s flagship Shenzhen Branch, a fintech innovation centre cum startup collaboration platform – BEAST (which stands for BEA + Startups), a Data Lab and other BEA subsidiaries. With a recognised presence across all 9 GBA cities in the Mainland, BEA offers a comprehensive range of cross-boundary banking services by leveraging its onshore and offshore platforms to meet the needs of personal and corporate customers. In addition, BEA is committed to advancing innovation and supporting a vibrant fintech ecosystem in the region. BEAST, BEA’s fintech platform that was first established in Hong Kong in September 2022, has expanded its reach to Qianhai. Launched in October 2023, Qianhai BEAST enables the Bank to connect with the wealth of talent and expertise in Shenzhen’s thriving fintech community. BEAST Qianhai benefits BEA and its customers with co-created solutions, while also facilitating broader regional collaboration.” BEA Tower is located in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation Zone. More info below:
“ Hong Kong Bank of East Asia Celebrates Inauguration of BEA Tower in China Shenzhen City Qianhai as a Strategic Hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area & Celebrates 105th Anniversary “
John KC Lee, Chief Executive of the HKSAR: “The HKSAR Government attaches great importance to strengthening and leveraging Hong Kong’s competitive edge in financial services. Hong Kong’s internationalised market, product offerings and talent pool can make proactive contributions to the financial liberalisation and innovation of the GBA not only in such established sectors as securities, banking, insurance, and asset management, but also in the emerging fields of green finance and fintech. I encourage BEA to capitalise on the immense opportunities presented by the development of Qianhai to continue to play an active role in the development of the GBA and contribute to our nation’s high-standard opening up as a home-grown Hong Kong business.”
Paul Chan Mo-po, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR Government: “Qianhai is a major cooperation platform for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, holding a frontier position for national reform and opening up. It is an important national initiative to support Hong Kong’s economic and social development, enhance the level of cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, and construct a new layout of opening up. In this new era and journey of China’s modernisation for building a strong nation, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are strengthening their co-development and speeding up the formation of a new system for good- quality, highly efficient modern service industry.
Wang Qiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC: “This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and is also a crucial year for achieving the objectives and initiatives outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan. Shenzhen will focus on driving economic development and high-quality growth to spur the creation of an economic hub with greater global influence and a modern international metropolis. We hope BEA will continue to play an increasing role in the economic and social development of Shenzhen, fully leveraging the synergies of cross-boundary collaboration.”
Adrian Li, Co-Chief Executive of BEA: “The official inauguration of BEA Tower represents a milestone for our business development in the region. This building will serve as our strategic hub for the GBA, facilitating closer collaboration between members of the BEA Group and enabling us to provide more seamless cross-boundary services to our customers.”
Brian Li, Co-Chief Executive of BEA: “BEA has always been a supporter of the continuous development of Qianhai. Among our key business segments in the GBA, we have established our presence in securities, investment, asset management, and fintech in Qianhai. BEA Tower demonstrates our unwavering confidence in the prospects of the economy and business in the Chinese Mainland.”
Hong Kong Bank of East Asia Celebrates Inauguration of BEA Tower in China Shenzhen City Qianhai as a Strategic Hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area & Celebrates 105th Anniversary
The inauguration was officiated by Mr. Paul Chan Mo-po, Financial Secretary of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”); Mr. Wang Qiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (“CPC”), Director-General of the United Front Work Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC; Mr. Lv Feng, Deputy Director-General of the Economic Affairs Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR; Dr. Tong Shi-qing, Deputy Director General of the Guangdong Financial Supervisory Authority; Mr. Arthur Yuen, Deputy Chief Executive, Hong Kong Monetary Authority; Mr. Kuok Khoon-hua, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kerry Properties Limited, the Bank’s joint-venture partner for the development of BEA Tower; Dr. David Li, Executive Chairman of BEA; Professor Arthur Li, Deputy Chairman of BEA; and Mr. Adrian Li and Mr. Brian Li, Co-Chief Executives of BEA. Also joining the inauguration were the board of directors and executives of the Bank and Bank of East Asia (China) Limited (“BEA China”), and officials of Qianhai Authority and other Chinese Mainland government bodies.
BEA Tower
BEA Tower has 18 floors and 5 underground levels. It houses BEA China’s flagship Shenzhen Branch, a fintech innovation centre cum startup collaboration platform – BEAST (which stands for BEA + Startups), a Data Lab and other BEA subsidiaries. With a recognised presence across all 9 GBA cities in the Mainland, BEA offers a comprehensive range of cross-boundary banking services by leveraging its onshore and offshore platforms to meet the needs of personal and corporate customers.
In addition, BEA is committed to advancing innovation and supporting a vibrant fintech ecosystem in the region. BEAST, BEA’s fintech platform that was first established in Hong Kong in September 2022, has expanded its reach to Qianhai. Launched in October 2023, Qianhai BEAST enables the Bank to connect with the wealth of talent and expertise in Shenzhen’s thriving fintech community. BEAST Qianhai benefits BEA and its customers with co-created solutions, while also facilitating broader regional collaboration.
BEA continues to strengthen its capabilities with innovative solutions. Its refreshed brand identity reflects the sustainable, digital-led and customer-centric bank that BEA is today and its commitment to empowering its customers to manage their financial well-being.
Fintech Innovation Centre cum Startup Collaboration Platform – BEAST and Data Lab
Background
Fintech innovation centre cum startup collaboration platform – BEAST, introduced in 2022 on the 26th floor, BEA Tower, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, is more than a co-working space. It stands for “BEA + Startups”, namely BEA’s fintech platform that inspires innovative co-creations and collaborations of the Bank with startups and industry partners, with the aim of promoting the development of digital transformation and applications.
Since its establishment, BEAST has collaborated with 8 local and global fintech companies, 66 startups and tech companies on 111 fintech projects, including 30 proof-of-concept (PoC) projects. BEAST has expanded into Qianhai, serving as a key part of BEA’s digital transformation and a cradle for fintech talent.
Objectives of BEAST in Qianhai
- Establish a bridge for joint cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong: BEAST will bring
in outstanding technology startups from both cities and help them go out. - Help young entrepreneurs in the Greater Bay Area: The Bank of East Asia (China) Limited (“BEA China”) and HKAI Lab will utilise their own strengths to empower young people in the
Greater Bay Area to innovate and start businesses. - Foster talent flow: BEA will serve as a bridge for the development and exchange of talents
between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, and to facilitate the integration of Hong Kong and Macau youth into the development of the Greater Bay Area.
Startups in BEAST in Qianhai Chinese Mainland startup:
- Proxverse Technology, a cutting-edge intelligent process management platform, boasts an industry-leading process database that was developed in-house and is able to mine tens of billions of data points in less than a second. The company has successfully implemented many use cases with BEA China, particularly in the realms of batch processing and middle to back-end operations.
Hong Kong startups brought into the Mainland:
- Datago Technology, a fintech startup with a primary focus on Chinese financial text analytics, excels in transforming unstructured data, including capital market-related news, announcements, and social discussions, into analysable data. This data is then applied to enhance customers’ investment research and risk management capabilities. BEA is currently exploring potential collaborations with Datago Technology, particularly in areas like credit reporting automation.
- Eureka FinTech, a fintech startup that integrates big data, private data, and internal bank data based on AI and graphic technology. It empowers customers in undertaking Know Your Customer and is currently exploring cooperation with BEA China in this field.
- Kirisame RegTech, a regtech company that allows customers to simulate their risk resistance capabilities under various scenarios on the comprehensive stress testing platform, such as liquidity crises and global financial crises. Customers can then make strategic decisions based on these simulations. BEA is currently exploring cooperation with Kirisame RegTech in this area.
Cross–boundary Fintech Collaborations
- Fano Labs’ AI speech recognition and speech-to-text technology are used to analyze the
recorded conversations between relationship managers and customers, improving sales surveillance. This solution was first adopted in BEA Hong Kong and is currently being introduced to BEA’s customer service centre in Guangzhou. - OpenHive is currently conducting the first phase of PoC with BEA Hong Kong and BEA China for its cross-boundary data and document verification platform. After the platform is built, it will help expand cross-boundary services for businesses and individuals.
Data Lab
Data Lab is a part of the “GBA Digital & Innovation Lab” established by BEA China in 2022, aiming to drive data-driven cross-boundary financial services, and connect with BEAST to provide data verification for startups.
About The Bank of East Asia, Limited
Incorporated in 1918, The Bank of East Asia, Limited (“BEA”) is a leading Hong Kong- based financial services group listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, with total consolidated assets of HK$872.1 billion (US$111.3 billion) as of 30th June, 2023.
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