Internships at financial companies and visits to high-tech firms broaden perspectives, job prospects

Eric Tsang, a finance major senior and computer science minor at Chinese University of Hong Kong, said he sees his two-month internship on the Chinese mainland as essential to his competitiveness in pursuing a career in the financial technology sector.

"I was skeptical about the program at first," Tsang said. "I used to prefer the idea of practical experience in the United States or some European countries that are more advanced in technology development.

"However, the internship in Ant Financial totally blew my mind. I learned much more than I expected," he said.

Tsang's internship started in June. He was assigned to the cloud computing department at Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's financial arm, and was made responsible for product development.

"I do coding and programing most of the time, but I also get to learn financial policies here and have opportunities to visit other leading fintech companies," he said, adding that his work varies on a daily basis.

Tsang said he visited Face++, a company that specializes in facial recognition and computer vision technology, and gaming company Hero Entertainment Co Ltd, both of which are based in Beijing, before heading to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, where Ant Financial is based.

"Hong Kong has a well-developed and mature financial system, but the mainland is much stronger in technology. I really like opportunities like this that allow me to have a broader mindset and learn from both sides," Tsang said.

"I'm always interested in new things and have had a few attempts in the fintech area. I believe tech adaptation in financial services will lead its future," he said.

The two-month internship program, organized by NGO Fin Society, offers students internship opportunities at major financial institutions and tech companies in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in Guangdong province.

In Beijing, interns at CITIC Group Corp Ltd, Ant Financial and others are invited, like Tsang, to visit Hero Entertainment, Face++ and also the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

"Many students from Hong Kong are interested in face scanning and artificial intelligence, but few Hong Kong companies are working in this field, as most of them are specialized in the traditional financial sector," said Shannon Cheung, president and chief executive of Fin Society.

The non-profit organization works to strengthen the competitiveness of finance practitioners in Hong Kong.

"We want them to improve their knowledge of leading companies on the Chinese mainland and some new firms that have the potential to have a major market share in the future," Cheung said.

"Meanwhile, Hong Kong still remains China's financial center facing a global market and will offer mainland companies good platforms to go public. There is just so much that both sides can communicate with and learn from each other," he added.

"And we are working to build our society into a platform that can facilitate communication between Hong Kong and mainland students," Cheung said.

"Opportunities like this will broaden students' views in so many ways other than just learning about fintech. The internship program will also benefit students who want to be competitive on a global scale," he said.

According to Cheung, more and more Hong Kong students in the program speak positively about job prospects, as the Chinese mainland's rapid development of fintech will offer great opportunities for them.

"Many of the students we interviewed expressed their willingness to work on the mainland after graduation, but the number was zero four years ago when we first started the program," Cheung said.

"Talking with the students makes me feel like I am back at school again, and they really give me so many fresh ideas," said Fu Yingbo, deputy head of Face++.

"Normally we don't work on Saturdays but our team came in anyway, because we wanted to talk to the students face-to-face and create a better experience for them," said Fu, adding that communication is the key for both Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland to achieve higher progress.