在九十年代中的香港，大學裏的「神科」並不僅是醫科和法律，還有乘着其時互聯網熱潮而備受追捧的信息工程。自小考試成績跌不出年級第二以外的劉業民在1993年以暫取生身分獲中大優先錄取，入讀信息工程學系，繼續發揮他在數學與科學方面的天賦與熱愛。

憶起當年學系的精良師資與前衛課程，劉業民分外自豪：「當大眾還在使用傳呼機和『小靈通』電話作單向通訊時，我們已在學習高速通訊技術、密碼學和人工智能。」

以一級榮譽畢業的他加入了全球最大的IT顧問公司，四年後到倫敦商學院唸工商管理碩士，依舊以一級榮譽修畢，成為一家大銀行的副總裁。及後進軍投資界，現職「領渢資本」董事總經理，專注金融科技（Fintech）投資。

履歷顯赫奪目，人卻是淡如水的謙謙君子。他輕柔的說：「無論身處任何角色，我始終希望盡一己之力，促進科技的發展與應用。」

雖然「金融科技」是近五年才流行的術語，但金融與科技的結合由來已久，劉業民認為每當科技界嶄露新突破，搶先應用的總是金融業，藉以驅動利潤與效率的提升。例如信用卡的發行刺激了消費；自動提款機減輕了銀行櫃枱工作量；網上與手機銀行讓客戶免卻車馬勞頓就能交易。

2008年金融海嘯令全球開始反思傳統金融體系的弊病。同時，科技企業冒起，科創家以局外人眼光審視金融業，發現可以透過人工智能、區塊鏈、雲端、大數據（取其英文首字母即A、B、C、D）等技術，實現資訊更透明、操作更安全、成本更低，並且能為每個客戶提供個性化服務。兩股力量的交纏開創出金融科技新氣象。

以貸款為例，傳統上申請人須親身前往銀行填寫大量資料，經過繁複手續證明自己能如期還款；對於沒有信用紀錄的個人或小公司，銀行未必能服務。

而近年愈來愈多的貸款申請已經可以網上遞交且快速批核，背後也歸因於金融科技能在數秒內得悉申請人過往的貸款紀錄，並且綜合分析他們在社交媒體的行徑、手機應用程式使用情況、不同圈子的人脈等，判斷出申請人的信譽度與信貸額。

劉業民對科技的推崇備至正是基於科技對生產力的巨大提升作用。他指指面前的錄音筆解釋道：「如果要把這段錄音以人手轉成文字，即使用全世界最快的電腦，一分鐘也打不超過一百字。但發明了語音識別技術後，只需按一下按鈕就能瞬間實現轉換。這就是科技引發的變革。

「每個人的時間與精力有限，科技能將我們從單調重複的繁瑣事解放出來，從事更需創意和獨到分析的活動，這樣人類文明才得以不斷前進。」

科技浪潮迭起，科研與金融人員固然是背後推手，但也離不開普羅大眾的參與。劉業民鼓勵大家積極擁抱和嘗試新興科技產品：「任何科技產品的迭代都需要足夠的客戶支持，才能不斷檢討與完善。」

他明白不少香港人安全意識強，對金融科技服務如手機支付戒心重，然而解決方法很簡單：開立一張信用額較低的信用卡，專門用作手機支付，這樣即使出了差池，損失風險也極低。「嘗試新玩意本身充滿樂趣，也能增加與家人朋友的話題，無需為了保護自己而故步自封。」

在香港這個國際金融中心，銀行、保險公司和資產管理公司林立，對金融科技產品來說是極佳的試驗場，吸引世界各地的金融科技公司前來開發市場，招徠客戶。政府積極更新金融政策，批出虛擬銀行和虛擬保險牌照，緊貼金融科技發展大勢，也令劉業民感到振奮。

然而他也提醒，香港需在執行上加把勁，才能從芸芸競爭者中突圍而出。「我們的對手不止是紐約、倫敦，還有瑞士、新加坡、深圳、北京、上海等，全都實力非凡，爭分奪秒求突破。新的發展計劃無需等到萬無一失才付諸實行，而應盡快推出，在實戰中不斷累積經驗，快速改良迭代；同時，社會各界應有容許錯誤發生的心量，香港才能立於不敗之地。」

對科技發展與應用滿腔熱誠的劉業民希望年輕一輩也能領略科技的魅力與前景。「投身科技除了對世界饒有貢獻，個人財富回報也可以很豐厚。我期盼香港能重現爭相修讀科技類工程的熱潮，令更多生力軍加入以科技改變世界的行列。」

Universities in Hong Kong were very different places back in the 90s. As the Internet captured the world’s imagination, it was not only subjects like medicine and law but also information engineering that drew the best and the brightest. Consistently top of his cohort, Edmond Lau was admitted on a fast track to CUHK’s Department of Information Engineering in 1993. There he immersed himself in the worlds of mathematics and science, for which he had always had a gift and a deep love.

To this day Edmond remembers proudly the Department’s outstanding faculty and the courses it offered, which were way ahead of their time, ‘Those were the days of pagers and personal handy-phone systems, yet we were already learning about high-speed communication, cryptography and artificial intelligence.’

After graduating with first-class honours, he joined the world’s largest IT consultancy. Four years later, he moved on to pursue an MBA at the London Business School, getting another first. He became Vice President of a major bank, and on he ventured into the investment sector, now serving as managing director of Lingfeng Capital and focusing on FinTech investment.

Dazzling as his resume might be, Edmond is a man of humility. ‘Wherever I am and whatever I do, all I want is to give everything for the advancement and application of technology,’ he said humbly.

While the term ‘FinTech’ has been the rage for only about five years, finance and technology have gone hand in hand for quite some time. The financial sector, Edmond noted, is always the first to take advantage of a technological breakthrough. Time and again, technology has proved to be a real profit and efficiency booster: credit cards have encouraged spending, ATMs have taken burden off tellers, Internet and phone banking have saved us time in making transactions, and so on.

Following the 2008 financial crisis, the world began to see the problems of traditional financial institutions for what they are. It was also a boom time for tech companies. From a fresh perspective, innovators in the technology industry realized there is great potential in the financial sector for what we now call ‘ABCD’―artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing and big data. With these powerful tools, finance could come with more transparency, safety, cost-efficiency and individuality.

Consider what technology can do in the loan market. Previously, applicants would have to present a large amount of information in person and go through a long-winded process, proving they could pay off their debt on time. Individuals and small businesses without a credit history might not even get this far, with banks being unable to serve them in the first place.

Nowadays, though, loan requests can be submitted online and processed at amazing speeds. Thanks to FinTech, financial companies can get a full picture of their applicants’ credit activities as well as their social media footprints, what they do with their mobile apps, their network of friends and family, etc.―all in a matter of seconds. This allows companies to more quickly determine their applicants’ credit rating and loan size.

What it can do to boost productivity makes Edmond a tireless advocate of technology. Pointing at the pen voice recorder in front of him, he said, ‘Let’s say you were to transcribe this recording. Even with the world’s fastest computer, you couldn’t type more than a hundred words per minute. With speech recognition technology, though, all it would take is the click of a button. Such is the revolution technology has brought about.

‘None of us has all the time in the world, and there’s only so much we can do in that limited amount of time. Technology frees us from tedium and routines, giving us the space to be creative and to think critically. This is the only way we humans can move forward.’

But with every invention there must be users testing it out. For Edmond, it is important that the public keeps an open mind about technological innovations and is willing to give them a try. ‘Any technological product will require feedback from a good number of users to keep perfecting itself.’

He understands how important security is to Hongkongers, who may have second thoughts about FinTech products like mobile wallets. One solution he proposed is to dedicate a card with a lower credit limit to mobile payments. That way, the loss will be minimal even if things go wrong. ‘It’s always fun to try out new stuff―it gives you and your friends and family something to talk about too. You don’t have to kill all the joy just to stay safe.’

Being a global financial centre and home to countless banks, insurers and asset management companies, Hong Kong is an excellent testing ground for FinTech products. It is a place for FinTech companies from all over the world to open up their market. Edmond is pleased to see that the government is actively changing their financial policy and keeping abreast of the winds of FinTech by issuing licences to virtual banks and insurers.

That being said, Edmond also sees the need for Hong Kong to pick up its pace in order to hold the lead. ‘Besides New York and London, places like Switzerland, Singapore, Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai are also in the race. They’re all strong competitors, working round the clock for a breakthrough. We don’t need a flawless plan to be able to get down to work. Improvements can be improvised as we go along, learning from our experience. Meanwhile, society should be able to tolerate mistakes. Only this will keep Hong Kong in the game.’

The devotee of technology wishes that younger generations will also see its many splendours and bright future. ‘Being part of the tech industry is as monetarily rewarding as it is a service to the world. I look forward to the day engineering subjects regain their eminence in Hong Kong, the day schoolchildren would once again flock to join this world-changing force.’