The Global Conference on Fin-tech Industry: IT Convergence and Financial Innovation hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and organized by the Korean Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) was held on November 28 at Coex as a unit event of “Creative Korea 2014” 

This conference was designed to hear other countries’ experience regarding the fin-tech industry, which is in the spotlight as a new growth engine and is currently growing at a rapid pace, and to discuss its potential in the Korean economy.

The first presenter of the conference, Mutaz Qubbaj, Co-founder of Squirrel, identified challenging spirit and entrepreneurship of startups as a driving force of the fin-tech industry boom and emphasized that a right startup ecosystem, government support and regulators’ attitude toward innovation are of great importance for the development of the fin-tech industry.

In his presentation, Kwon Hyun-don, Director of the Korean branch of Alipay.com explained that as many as 900 million people in China are currently using Alipay payment service and this simple and easy system is changing the way people pay online, creating a new ecosystem.

The third speaker, Lee Seung-gun, Head of Viva Republica shared the challenges and opportunities Korea fin-tech startups are now facing.

In the following panel discussion and Q&A session, with Dr. Kim Jeong-eon, Director of the ICT Industry Research Division at KISDI as a moderator, Hwang Seung-ik, President of Hankooknfc, Kwon Hyuck-tae, President of Coolidge Corner Investment, Prof. Kang Im-ho of Division of Economics at Hanyang University ERICA Campus, and Dr. Chon Joo-yong of the Bank of Korea Economic Research Institute discussed the current status and potential of the domestic fin-tech industry.