The Lantern Festival, a significant traditional Chinese celebration, marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities. It is a time when families and friends gather to enjoy delicious food and exchange well wishes.

We extend our heartfelt appreciation to the remarkable MFin Student Committee! In honor of this joyous occasion, the Committee organized a splendid Lantern Festival Dinner. The evening commenced with engaging activities such as craft making and an exciting riddle contest, followed by a delightful dinner. To immerse everyone in the cultural experience, the Committee thoughtfully arranged a captivating Chinese calligraphy session.

We had the privilege of hosting an enlightening enrichment talk titled “Stories from the Trading Floor – 15 Years in Asian Capital Markets” by Mr. Alfred TANG, a distinguished equity derivatives and investment professional with an impressive background as a former equity derivatives trader at Citigroup. This engaging talk gave our students an exciting peek into the fast-paced world of Asian Capital Markets.

Mr. TANG’s journey and expertise served as a remarkable source of inspiration for our aspiring young professionals. His insights not only broadened their horizons but also motivated them to pursue excellence and seize opportunities in their own careers.

We hosted a remarkable Orientation Day on 22 August 2023 for our esteemed new students in the MSc in Finance program. It was an event brimming with inspiration, invaluable insights, and meaningful connections.

We were privileged to welcome esteemed guests who graced us with their presence. Prof. Chu ZHANG, the Head of the Department of Finance, delivered a heartfelt Welcome Address, while Prof. Zhanhui CHEN, our esteemed Academic Director, provided enlightening Opening Remarks.

During the “Banking and Finance Career Preparation” session, Prof. Stan HO shared his profound expertise, offering invaluable insights into the finance industry.

Moreover, we had the pleasure of hosting three accomplished alumni, Ms. Lisa DJENG, Mr. Jay HA, and Mr. Kanson NG, who generously shared their inspiring success stories and experiences, igniting a sense of aspiration among our incoming students.

The day concluded with a delightful Welcome Lunch, during which our esteemed faculty members mingled with the students, fostering a strong sense of community and camaraderie.

We are thrilled to witness the smiles and positive energy radiating from our students, and we eagerly anticipate their exciting journey ahead.

The MFin Class of 2022 and their guests came back to our HKUST campus to attend the SBM Congregation in December. Our graduates took plenty of photos, and celebrated with their classmates and loved ones.

The MFin Graduation Dinner was held at China Garden after the congregation. Our MFin graduates and our faculty members participated in this gathering, to celebrate the graduation and accomplishments. It was a great get-together full of joy and laughter.

Congratulations on your graduation and wish you all a brilliant future!

We were honoured to have Daisy Lo, Director of Market Development at Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute (HKSI Institute), and Lewis Wan, Chairman at HKFAEx Group Limited, to introduce HKSI’s membership community, their key talent development programmes and the professional qualification to our MFin students on the 14th of October.

It was a powerful sharing session with lots of positive energy, market experiences and career insights. From Lewis’ sharing of “My Way from HKUST to Big 4 and then Entrepreneur”, he highlighted the importance of goal setting, time management, and daring to dream. Lewis also shared his appreciation to HKSI and the benefits he gained from HKSI. The HKSI scholarship and its case competition provided him opportunities to connect with market leaders, industry practitioners and regulators. He became the Senior Fellow (SFHKSI) in the 20th Anniversary Dinner, which shows the industry recognition to his contribution too.

Key takeaways from this session were to be positive and adaptive, and dare to DREAM!
A special thanks to Veronique Lafon-Vinais for introducing HKSI to our MFin community, and Marble Pang from HKSI for putting this event together!

WELCOME TO HKUST! We are pleased to welcome our new MSc in Finance (MFin) students to the Orientation on August 17!

The Academic Director, Prof. CHEN Zhanhui, and our MFin program staff greeted our newcomers in person and online. We were impressed by the near-perfect attendance and this is the largest cohort since our program was established. Over 60 students showed up in person at the Academic Building, and over 150 students joined us virtually. 

Our promising alumni, Ms. Kami Bi, Mr. David Hong, Mr. Jesse Co, Mr. Kevin Lee and Mr. Francis Ling, conducted a fruitful sharing session on a wide range of topics like ‘Study Journey at HKUST’, ‘How to Manage Social and Work Life, ‘Market Trend in Blockchain’ etc. The students enjoyed an enthusiastic discussion in which our alumni speakers shared their experiences further and guided our students to explore their career paths.

We hope the hands-on experience students got from the Orientation can ease the academic challenges that lay ahead and transform their careers successfully. Let’s get the ball rolling, and we wish all students, faculty and staff a healthy, rewarding and enriching year ahead.

MSc Finance Program Office cordially invited our alumni back to campus on July 23rd, to join the lunch at UniBistro. The Head of Department of Finance, Professor Chu Zhang, and The Head of School of Business and Management MSc Program, Ms. Salad Kwok also attended the lunch. It has been a long while since the last in-person activity. Alumni had a cheerful afternoon, meeting their old classmates, making new friends, seeing their favorable professors, and enjoying a spectacular ocean view of the beautiful campus as there are many new developments over time on campus.  

As the year of 2021 coming to an end, it was time to plan and welcome the future. On December 22nd, a beautiful Wednesday evening, we held FINA Cross-cohort X-citement at a nice and elegant Chinese restaurant on campus to celebrate the end of 2021 and Christmas with our faculty and other UG students in FINA. The Head of Department of Finance, Professor Chu Zhang was there with students that night. The open setting of the dinner allowed participants to go around, to join different tables and to meet with other participants. Complimented with the gourmet food, our students had a great time spending the night together and shared their fond memories with fellow students, and faculty members.

We were honoured to have Simon Sywak, Managing Director at A-stars Advisors Limited, and Donald Day, Senior Manager, Intermediaries Supervision at Securities and Futures Commission to conduct a lunchtime debate on the topic 'Digital Finance: Innovate or Regulate?' with our MFin students on the 20th of November.

In this lunchtime debate, finance veterans, Simon and Don, offered their views from the contrasting perspectives of innovator and regulator on questions related to the digital finance market. The speakers shared the risks within the industry, how individual companies were faring with our students. 

The discussion was moderated by MFin Academic Director Prof. Peter MacKay. Prof. MacKay raised and answered important questions the aspiring Digital Finance entrepreneur must address before jumping into a venture. It was a fruitful learning session for our MFin students.