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MSc in Finance (Fintech and Financial Analytics) partners with the International Association of Privacy Professionals to award the inaugural, “Westin Scholar Book Award”

We are delighted to have the International Association of Privacy Professionals (www.IAPP.org) sponsor a first of its kind award in Asia Pacific to honor the top student’s achievement for the best individual assignment submitted for the Cybersecurity, Privacy and RegTech class. In addition to a cash prize of USD1,000, the awardee will receive 2 years of complimentary IAPP membership, 3 exam vouchers for IAPP certification programs, 2 years unlimited access to virtual training for all IAPP certificate programs and a copy of the book “Privacy and Freedom” with a special nameplate inside describing the award.

“For IAPP, the intention of this award is not only to recognize a student’s accomplishments, but to help build the pipeline for the next generation of privacy professionals. Students appreciate the Cybersecurity course infused with industry-ready content and guest speakers from around the world to share real-world updates in the core areas of Cybersecurity, Privacy and RegTech in relation to FinTech. This award ensures that the student continues with a growth mindset to continue their journey into the workforce, equipped with privacy knowledge and a solid baseline for them to pursue the highly sought after IAPP certifications” said Regional Leader (Hong Kong) of IAPP and Adjunct Professor Jason Lau.

Current industry developments in Cybersecurity

Thanks Mr Nelson Yuen, from Microsoft Cybersecurity Solutions Group, for sharing current industry developments in Cybersecurity, Privacy and Compliance to our students. Digital Transformation is a core driver to enable companies to achieve more and to take advantage of the benefits of the hashtag Cloud.

Compliance and regulatory changes make it hard for companies to keep up, so initiatives like the Compliance Manager and Compliance Score help to identify gaps and track an organisation's maturity over time.

Our Fintech programme awarded 10 fellowship places for local students by the UGC’s fellowship scheme

The MSc in Finance (Fintech and Financial Analytics) [MScFIN] programme is listed as one of the recommended programmes in the Targeted Taught Postgraduate Programmes Fellowships Scheme (“the Scheme”) by the University Grants Committee. It is one of the only twelve taught postgraduate R&I (Research and Innovation) programmes across the eight publicly-funded universities in Hong Kong recommended by the Scheme.

Starting from the 2020/21 academic year, 10 local students of the MScFIN programme with outstanding academic achievements, relevant professional qualifications and/or work experience as well as achievements in other areas will be considered for the Scheme. Each awarded student will be subject to a ceiling of HK$120,000 to subsidise the tuition fees.

Current and Future Challenges in the Privacy space

Many thanks to Mr Ivan Chan, Head of Communications and Education from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data for sharing current and future challenges in the Privacy space with our students. The emergence of AI, BigData and FinTech means that those working in this space need to be extra careful about privacy considerations in their business processes and in the products and services they provide to users. (E.g. Automated Decision Making and Profiling). Also great to listen about the growing use of #deepfakes and the privacy and security risks and threats to businesses.

Thanks also to Commissioner Wong for his ongoing support for embedding industry-ready privacy and security content into the Masters programme; a first in Asia.

Practical challenges to operate Fintech business in China

Thanks to Joyce Huang from Crypto.com and former IBM Greater China Compliance specialist, for sharing her knowledge and practical experience with China Cybersecurity Law. It was a great way for the class to understand the key practical challenges when operating FinTech businesses in China.

Cybersecurity examples from crypto.com

Thanks to Sam Ng, Johnson, Chuan Zhang and Saravana Kumar from crypto.com to share key cybersecurity examples with our students, demonstrating practical issues around malicious USB's, WiFi Man-In-The-Middle Attacks, Blockchain security issues and even a live demo of a laptop takeover, remotely enabling and recording the victim through the victim's webcam. It was a great security awareness session for the class, and best practices on how to improve our own personal security.

Cybersecurity risks in the cloud

Thanks to Bernard Tan, Chief Counsel, Cybersecurity at SAP, (who has recently been included as an additional HK Co-Chair of the IAPP - International Association of Privacy Professionals), for delivering a presentation covering, "The Future Is Cloudy, Navigating Cybersecurity Risks in The Cloud", and "Navigating a World with increasing Cybersecurity and Data-Related Regulations" to our students via Zoom.

The cloud is complex, and it was good to hear from industry leaders on not just the technological security risks, but also from a regulatory perspective. It was a great opportunity for the students to learn and understand more about cross-border privacy and security regulations and challenges companies face, and strategies to overcome them.

Regulatory challenges of Smart banking

Thanks to Ms. Macy Leung (Lead Counsel) and Mr Peter Law (Head of Compliance) at Bank of China (Hong Kong) to share their thoughts on the topic of Smart Banking, Regulatory challenges as well as compliance and privacy matters to consider in the Cybersecurity class. In addition to this, it was great to learn about local initiatives from the HK Monetary Authority and OpenAPI benefits and challenges for FinTech. Students are greatly benefited from the industry sharing.

A series of Industry Experts to speak in the Cybersecurity, Privacy and Regtech class

Thanks to Mr Adrian Lai, CEO of Liquefy to kick start the series and our visiting Adjunct Professor Mr Jason Lau for making this happen. Mr. Lai shared his thoughts on the topic of tokenization, as well as the cross-roads between security, privacy and blockchain with reference to FinTech applications. Our students appreciated the presentation and enjoyed it a lot.