Meet Our Alumni Judges

Ron is the Managing Partner of AFG Partners, a Fintech VC Fund with the mission to be the growth partner for the next generation of global and regional FinTechs that will transform Asian Financial Services.  Prior to AFG, Ron founded Asia Fintech Angels, the premier Asian Angel Investor Network specialized in FinTech.  Ron’s career includes 25+ years of driving innovation and building businesses for global financial institutions both in the US and Asia. 

Michelle Li is the co-CEO and Digital Analytics and Intelligence Subject Matter Champion of AMTD Digital, the digital arm of AMTD Group.  Ms. Li leads AMTD Digital with a vision to offer one-stop, cross-market and intelligent digital finance solutions for Asian consumers and SMEs - to make digital financial services proactive and seamless. AMTD Digital is building digital banking, insurance and payments in Hong Kong and Singapore with an ambition to expand into other Asian markets. AMTD owns Airstar Bank, a JV with Xiaomi, one of the eight virtual banks in Hong Kong; AMTD is leading a consortium comprising of Xiaomi, SP Group and Founding Societies and submitted the application for a digital bank license in Singapore. AMTD also announced a few landmark acquisitions in ASEAN including PolicyPal (InsurTech), CapBridge (Digital Asset Exchange) and FOMO Pay (Payments) and Nexia TS (professional services). Together with MAS and SFA, AMTD has launched MAS-SFA-AMTD Solidarity Grant to support FinTechs in the challenging time; AMTD has also established an AMTD ASEAN Solidarity Fund together with AFIN to support and anchor FinTechs in ASEAN. Ms. Li is a promoter and influencer in FinTech industry. She speaks frequently on major industry events such as Asian Financial Forum, Hong Kong FinTech Week, Singapore FinTech Festival etc.. She publishes regularly on FinTech trends in her Global FinTech Bi-weekly publication. Before becoming the CEO of AMTD Digital, Ms. Li heads the Research department of AMTD Group. Before joining AMTD Group in 2016, Ms. Li served in UBS as the lead analyst of Asian Financial sector in the Asia Fixed Income research team and she was the China bank equity analyst in the Asia Financials research team.

Louis Liu is the Digital Payment Subject Matter Champion of AMTD Digital, as well as co-founder and CEO of FOMO Pay, one of Singapore’s largest and leading one-stop QR code payment aggregators and payment gateway providers. Mr. Liu was named “30 Under 30” on the Forbes list for finance and venture capital in 2018, as well as Singapore FinTech Leader, Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni. He is a frequent speaker in mobile payment-related conventions and summits on Chinese payment landscape and Southeast Asia payment industry roadmap. In 2020, FOMO Pay is acquired by AMTD, the Asia’s leading financial conglomerate where its investment arm was dually listed on NYSE and SGX.

With his domain expertise on digital payment & digital transformation, his team has dedicated to developing the digital solution to promote financial inclusion and building a cashless society.  His entrepreneur mindset also drives him to actively share his expertise with industry partners about FinTech. As a speaker, he has been invited by Google, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, DBS, Ernst & Yong, Money2020, Visa and Singapore Fintech Festival to share about trends and insights about e-payment & digital banking. Views from Louis have also been featured on The Business Times, Zaobao, South China Morning Post, Channel NewsAsia, TechInAsia, and Forbes etc.

Prior to founding FOMO Pay, Mr. Liu served as management associate at Visa from April 2015 to August 2015. Mr. Liu obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University in 2015.

Val Yap is the Digital Insurance Subject Matter Champion of AMTD Digital, as well the Founder & CEO of PolicyPal, Singapore’s InsurTech leader and the first graduate from MAS’s FinTech Regulatory Sandbox. Ms. Yap is named to Forbes “30 Under 30” list for Finance and Venture Capital, Fortune “40 under 40” list for Finance, Linkedin’s Power Profiles in Singapore - 2016, 2017, 2018 and Fellow at Singapore University of Social Sciences and is a frequent speaker at universities and conferences. Before founding PolicyPal, Ms. Yap served as the assistant vice president at OCBC Bank in Singapore, where she headed a wide range of digital initiatives and campaigns, working closely with wealth and marketing to drive innovations. Prior to serving OCBC, Ms. Yap had also worked as a risk assurance consultant at  Pricewaterhouse Coopers in London, and as a sales broker at Allianz. Ms. Yap received a Bachelor of Art degree in Digital Media Design with 1st class honors from the University of Arts London in 2011 and a Master of Science degree in Business Management from Imperial College London in 2012.

Mr. William Fung is Group Vice President of AMTD Group and CEO of AMTD Digital, the digital arm of AMTD Group, responsible for strategic development of financial services and digital solutions businesses at AMTD.  Mr. Fung also has extensive experience in arranging and structuring international capital markets transactions.  Prior to joining AMTD, he worked at UBS AG Hong Kong, Nomura International (Hong Kong) Limited and Lehman Brothers Asia Limited. Before that, Mr. Fung also practiced professional engineering in the United States.  Mr. Fung received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science degree in Financial Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Frederic Lau is the Vice Chairman of AMTD Group, Digital Banking Subject Matter Champion of AMTD Digital, and Board Director of Airstar Bank.  Dr. Lau has over 30 years of experience in regulating and managing financial institutions, especially in areas such as industry development, regulatory framework, risk management and internal control. Dr. Lau served in Hong Kong and US regulatory agencies for years, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Office of Thrift Supervision (subsequently merged with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, OCC), the US Treasury Department. Dr. Lau was an Executive Director and Group Risk Director at Dah Sing Banking Group, a member of the Board of Directors of Dah Sing Bank (China) and Shenzhen Development Bank (subsequently renamed as Ping An Bank). He was also a Managing Director of Promontory Financial Group.

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Osman Ershad Faiz is the Chief Information and Operating Officer and Digital Infrastructure Subject Matter Champion of AMTD Digital. Prior to AMTD, Mr. Faiz was the Chief Operating Officer of Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore, and has over 25 years of international banking experience. He previously served in a variety of roles for Standard Chartered, including Chief Information Officer in Singapore, Head of Wholesale Banking Operations in East region and Head of Operations at Permata Bank, among others. Mr. Faiz has served as a director of Singapore Clearing House Association and was awarded the Institute of Banking and Finance Fellow Award in technology and operations. He was also named as the Industry Co-Chair of KYC 2.0 by MAS and the Association of Banks, Singapore in 2019. In his continuing work as a thought leader and ally for diversity and inclusion, Mr. Faiz was recognized by Yahoo, Financial Times and INvolve as a global Top 50 Champion of Women in Business and Top 40 Male Advocate in 2018 and 2019, respectively. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a bachelor of commerce degree from Aligarh Muslim University.

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Philip Tso is Head of Institutional Business Asia Pacific, with Allianz Global Investors.

Philip has over 20 years of experience in investment consulting. Before AllianzGI, he worked at Willis Towers Watson as Director, Head of Investments in Hong Kong and acted as a lead consultant for key pension, reserve and endowment funds.

He is a member of the Hang Seng Index Advisory Committee, an Executive Committee member of Hong Kong Investment Funds Association and the Vice Chairman of its Pensions Sub-committee.

Karena Belin, cofounder and COO/CFO/RO of AngelHub (angelhub.io), Hong Kong’s first and only startup investment platform licensed by the SFC (local regulator) for professional investors and growth companies scaling in Asia. Also cofounder and CEO of WHub (whub.io) - Startup Ecosystem builder and largest startup platform from Hong Kong, helping startups scale and any stakeholder to connect with the innovative power of the ecosystem. Keynote speaker, judge and Mentor. Startup Ambassador (SUAB) to the Senate of Berlin, Germany, Vice-President TiE HK, member of the Hyderabad FinTech Forum core team and of the FinTech association of HK, President of PFO at Hong Kong International School (HKIS).

Mr James Ho serves as the Deputy General Manager of BOCHK Transaction Banking Department. He is responsible for leading the development and digitalisation of Next-Gen. banking solutions for the Corporate Banking Segment. Mr Ho has more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry, financial technology application and project management in the region.

Mr. Ronald Fung, Chief Digital Officer (CDO), General Manager and Head of Digital & Innovation Office of The Bank of East Asia Limited. He was the CDO of Noah Holdings Limited, establishing the Group Digital & Innovation Center. Before that, he was the Director of COO Office of Ping An Group.

As a partner at Cataliize, Brian empowers startups, through human and financial capital, to navigate the stage when their locally validated ideas go global. He co-founded the Chicago Booth Angels Network of Hong Kong, and is a venture partner of AngeHub. As a management consultant, Brian has advised 25 of the world’s 50 largest banks.

Aged 45, joined the Group in 2016, is the general manager responsible for business strategy and analytics as well as technology applications of the Group. Mr. Lee has over 20 years of experience in advanced analytics carrying out consulting and business management roles with leading business analytics corporations.

Joyce is the Investment Director of Cyberport Macro Fund that focuses on early stage investments.  Joyce was previously the Managing Director at OurCrowd, a hybrid venture capital platform for investing in global startups.  Prior to that, Joyce held positions at various hedge funds with over a decade of experience in asset management.

Ben manages and drives the strategy of Eureka Nova, a leading open innovation platform that empowers technology startups to co-create within the New World Group ecosystem of culture, creativity and innovation. Through our accelerator programs, open competitions and sandboxes, participating startups work with New World Group’s business units and corporate partners to design innovative technologies that solve real business problems.

Howard has over 20 years of experience with international banks and startup companies in industries such as gaming and arts. Howard is previous Head of CDD, RBWM, HSBC HK. He has recently collaborated with a virtual bank in HK and innovated a fraud alert robo-disposition mechanism.

Kenneth is a Fintech Leader with over fifteen years of experience in financial services IT solutions. He leads a Fintech consultant team to deliver HK virtual bank project and capital market's blockchain initiative. He is a strategic thinker who can plan and implement innovative project.

Ms. Shi is the Executive Director of the Greater Bay Area Development Fund Management Limited with over 10 years of experience in investment advisory and asset management. She brings deep understanding of market and expertise across multiple industries and the entire investment cycle.

Worked for BOCOM International, served as chief analyst. In charge of Fintech Department of Zhongtai International, leading systematic research in blockchain and digital assets management with research publications. Familiar with overseas financial markets and holds Responsible Officer qualification in Hong Kong.

HKEX is one of the world’s largest operators of financial markets. Lukas’ role is to modernise the exchange’s platforms, processes and capabilities through AI, smart automation and knowledge-based tools applied across its IPO market, trading, settlement, regulation and market surveillance activities.

The 2,500 companies listed in Hong Kong include some of the most exciting entrepreneurial growth stories of the modern era, and HKEX strives to use the full resources of this incredible network to make the city’s capital markets more open, more accessible to younger generations and, above all, more interesting to human and machine intelligence alike.

Lukas has been involved in various initiatives that have put Hong Kong on the international markets map, including the acquisition of London Metal Exchange, China-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Bond Connect, and the landmark reforms of the city’s IPO regime that have propelled it to the #1 global listing venue over the past decade.

Raymond Wong, Head of Investment, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), manages the HKSTP Corporate Venture Fund and Business and Investment Support departments.  He has 25 years of extensive financial services experience in private equity investment, portfolio management, merger and acquisition as well as strategic investment across multiple sectors in the Asia Pacific region. 

Mike is Executive Director and Head of J.P. Morgan Hong Kong for Wholesale Payments, a business that combines cash management, trade finance and merchant services. He is also concurrently Region Head for Receivables Products for Asia Pacific. In this role, Mike is responsible for managing and growing the transaction banking portfolio of large local and multinational corporations, financial institutions and non-bank FI segments. Mike has close to 20 years of experience in various leadership roles in transaction banking.

Mr. Angus Choi began serving as Chief Executive Officer of Joint Electronic Teller Services Limited (“JETCO”) in December 2014, overseeing the company’s day-to-day operations and driving the expansion of its automated teller machine (“ATM”) network and introducing diversified FinTech solutions to promote the development of the local financial market in Hong Kong and Macau. In 2018, Mr. Choi led the team in building Hong Kong’s first open API exchange platform – JETCO APIX.

With over 30 years of experience in the consumer credit bureau and banking sectors, Mr. Choi has also held senior positions in Citibank’s and DBS’ consumer and corporate banking businesses, as well as regional sales and marketing management positions at Visa International and American Express in Hong Kong and Canada.   

Mr. Choi holds an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from Southern Illinois University in the United States.

Stephanie is the Director of LQ Pacific Partners. Stephanie has worked at leading venture capital firms in China and in Southeast Asia, and was a seasoned entrepreneur with a proven record of success. Stephanie was the Senior Country Manager at a Swiss medical technology company leading the company's first expansion into Asia, and prior to that, Stephanie was the Chief Strategy Officer of a Fintech company headquartered in the Greater Bay Area. 

Edmond Lau is an experienced investor, and is now the Managing Director of Lingfeng Capital focusing on fintech.  He was the Head of Incubation Centre in SF-Express and Head of Investment in FIH Mobile.  Mr. Lau holds an MBA (distinction) from LBS and a Bachelor of Engineering (first class) from CUHK.  He served as judges in Cyberport Incubation Program, HKSTP Elevator Pitch and Internet Finance Award.  He is also a board member of HKBAN, CFA Shenzhen, and HKIFA.

As Regional Business Lead of Financial Services for Microsoft Asia, Connie Leung is responsible for driving thought leadership and high-level engagements with key stakeholders in the financial services industry across the Asia Pacific. Leung is also part of Microsoft’s Worldwide Financial Services group where she provides strategic direction and leadership across all aspects of the financial services sector, including banking, capital markets and insurance.

Masa manages accelerator program called “Mizuho Crowd Brain” organized by Mizuho Bank, together with our partners such as Eureka Nova, Cyberport, HKSTP etc. Mizuho Crowd Brain is the platform to connect startups, large corporates and investors beyond Hong Kong through ours and partners’ global reach.  

Frank Tong is the Managing Partner at QBN Capital, a Hong Kong-based VC fund. They invest in early-growth stage fintech, deeptech, and trade tech companies, and have a particular focus on supporting companies post-investment with QBN’s prestigious network in Asia and Europe. Prior to QBN, Frank was the Global Head of Innovation and Strategic Investment at HSBC, and was the former CEO of ASTRI in Hong Kong. 

Philea Chim is the Senior VP at QBN Capital, a Hong Kong-based VC fund. They invest in early-growth stage fintech, deeptech, and trade tech companies, and have a particular focus on supporting them post-investment with QBN’s prestigious network in Asia and Europe. Philea leads all of QBN’s activities outside of Asia. Prior to QBN, Philea was tech policy advisor in the UK Government. 

Rachel Wang is the Head of Strategic Development for RGAX Asia Pacific, the transformation engine of the Reinsurance Group of America, oversees RGAX’s strategic investment initiatives, delivering solutions for digital distribution, customer engagement and advanced data and analytics. She has extensive experience in strategic partnerships and investments, as well as bringing new businesses and technology innovations to market.

Sherry Du is the Managing Director of RGAX Asia Pacific, the transformation engine of Reinsurance Group of America, leading its technology, innovation, data and digital solutions in APAC. As a senior actuary and business leader with 22 years’ experience, Sherry is highly regarded in the life & health insurance industry.

Burton is an IT leader with over 30 years' experience in technology and financial services. He oversees the strategy and overall management of IT and operations for the Bank, driving innovation and fintech development. He also serves as Acting Chairperson for the Fintech Committee of Hong Kong Institute of Bankers.

Islam started his career in the financial industries 18 years ago where he held several positions within Operation, Finance and Technology area across 3 locations (Paris, New York and Hong Kong).

Currently designing and delivering Core Banking System strategy for APAC.

Florence joined the securitization department of Société Générale Paris in May 2006 as a structurer. Leveraging on her transversal knowledge, she has been involved in transactions on a large scale of jurisdictions and format and is now heading the SG Asset Backed Products team for Asia-Pacific.

Florence holds an engineering degree from Ecole des Mines d’Alès and a specialized postgraduate degree in Finance from the ESSEC Business School.

Antoine has thirty years of experience in financial markets having worked in Paris, Chicago, Tokyo and Hong Kong in different functions and capacities including equities and credit derivatives trading and managing the Fixed Income and Currencies business in Japan. 

He is sponsoring a deep learning project for derivatives hedging and has conducted researches in AI for various applications.

Antoine holds a Master’s degree in Electronics from Yokohama National University in Japan and a Master’s degree in Engineering of Ecole Centrale Paris in France.

Mark Munoz is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Vectr Fintech.

Over 20 years in financial technology, Mark built and exited his own start-ups, oversaw numerous investments, mergers and acquisitions, and serves on multiple boards. At Vectr he leads the teams’ global fintech fund.