Actuaries, data scientists top list of Hong Kong’s most wanted professionals

by Ahmad Zaki

Hong Kong’s Labour and Welfare Bureau released their first Talent List at the end of August, aimed at attracting foreign talent to the city. The Talent List, which contains 11 professions, has been drawn up after extensive consultation with the stakeholders, designed to support the city’s continued development as a “high value-added and diversified economy”, the Bureau said in a statement.

And members within the finance industry are in high demand, including actuaries, marine insurance professionals, FinTech experts and asset managers.

In order to attract relevant world talents to Hong Kong, immigration facilitation is provided to eligible persons under the Talent List through the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) within its existing annual quota of 1 000. Successful applicants under the QMAS are not required to have secured an offer of local employment for settlement in Hong Kong.

The chief secretary for administration and chairman of the human resources planning commission, Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said, "Hong Kong welcomes talents from all over the world with valuable skills, knowledge and experience to work here, bringing their talent into full play and further developing their careers. The promulgation of the Talent List is one of our major initiatives to enhance our competitive advantages in attracting international talents, creating cluster effects, stimulating the development of local talents and propelling Hong Kong forward."

The full list of 11 professions are:

  1. Experienced waste treatment specialists/engineers;
  2. Experienced management professionals in asset management including but not limited to trust fund management;
  3. Experienced professionals in marine insurance;
  4. Actuaries;
  5. Experienced professionals in Fintech;
  6. Experienced data scientists and experienced cyber security specialists;
  7. Innovation and technology experts in, but not limited to, the following fields: (i) pharmaceutical and life science/biotechnology; (ii) data engineering (e.g. data mining/data analytics), artificial intelligence, robotics, distributed ledger technologies, biometric technologies and industrial/chemical engineering, etc.; and (iii) materials science/nanotechnology;
  8. Naval architects;
  9. Marine engineers and superintendents of ships;
  10. Creative industries professionals in:
    • music: recording engineers, mastering engineers, and cutting/pressing engineers for Vinyl LP;
    • digital entertainment: game development experts (game designers, game programmers and game graphic designers) and game producers; and
    • films: various roles in pre-production, production and post-production and winner of designated renowned international film festivals; and
  11. Dispute resolution professionals specialising in resolving international financial and investor-state disputes, and transactional lawyers with specialised knowledge of and experience in cross-border transactions from investing or host states.

According to the release, the list will be updated on a regular basis to reflect the changing needs driven by the latest economic development.

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