Accenture has joined forces with 10 major financial institutions to search for the top financial technology innovators in the Asia-Pacific region.

The selected startups will participate in the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific, a 12-week program that helps early and growth stage FinTech companies accelerate their product development and gain exposure to top level financial industry executives.

The programme will be hosted in Hong Kong, and follows in the footsteps of similar FinTech Labs set up by Accenture in both London and New York.

Invited to apply are entrepreneurs developing “potentially game-changing technologies” for financial services – particularly in the areas of Big Data and analytics, mobile and wireless, payments, risk management, security, compliance, and social media and collaboration technologies.

The shortlisted applicants will be selected and mentored by senior executives from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Barclays, China Construction Bank (Asia), DBS, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Ping An and UBS.

Sushil Saluja, senior managing director of Accenture’s Asia-Pacific financial services practice, said: “Hong Kong’s role as a regional hub for the banking industry and the gateway for China investment made it an ideal location to launch our new Asia-Pacific Lab. By fostering the development of the next generation of financial technology companies, the Lab will further strengthen Hong Kong’s status as one of the world’s leading financial capitals.”

A recent report by Accenture found that global investment in FinTech ventures more than tripled from $928 million in 2008 to $2.97 billion in 2013. During the same period, FinTech investment in the Asia-Pacific region increased nearly fourfold to $104 million.

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