HONG KONG -- CLPS Incorporation (“CLPS”) recently collaborated with the Data & AI Literacy Association (DALA)—a non-profit dedicated to advancing data fluency across Asia—to host the inaugural Executive Lunch & Learn. Themed “Beyond the Core and Legacy: Modernizing Financial Services in the AI Era,” the event gathered prominent leaders from Hong Kong’s financial services sector, including DALA Founding Chairman Dr. Toa Charm, alongside CLPS CEO Mr. Raymond Lin, President Mr. Henry Li, and other members of the company’s executive leadership team.
Addressing the Legacy System Crisis
The session explored critical questions shaping the future of the industry: the drivers behind modernization urgency, emerging best practices for overcoming technical challenges, the feasibility of using AI to accelerate upgrades, strategies for innovating despite legacy constraints, and the complexities of operating across both China and U.S. tech stacks within the current geopolitical landscape.
Mr. Jackson Yuen, Global Head of the Banking Innovation Center at CLPS, served as one of the featured speakers, addressing the critical infrastructure challenges currently facing the industry. Key insights from his presentation included:
Aging Infrastructure: Many Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are managing core banking systems that have been operational for 40 to 50 years.
Prohibitive Costs: Maintaining these legacy systems on IBM mainframes has become increasingly expensive, straining IT budgets.
Talent Scarcity: A dwindling pool of COBOL developers and designers has hampered system enhancements, making it difficult for institutions to meet modern user requirements or scale business growth.
Modernization Ambiguity: While the need for digital transformation is universally recognized, many executives remain uncertain regarding the optimal execution strategy for system replacement.
The participating executives echoed these sentiments, confirming that these technical bottlenecks represent a significant hurdle to operational agility.
The CLPS AI-Driven Solution
The luncheon provided a platform for CLPS to introduce its AI System Modernization Methodology. This proprietary framework offers financial institutions a structured, risk-mitigated pathway to transition away from legacy environments using artificial intelligence.
The efficacy of this approach is underscored by CLPS’s success in modernizing a 30-year-old legacy mortgage system for a major Hong Kong bank. By integrating AI into the migration process, CLPS achieved a significant breakthrough, establishing a replicable and scalable model for complex fintech modernization.
Driving Innovation Through Strategic Collaboration
Beyond technical solutions, this synergistic engagement highlights CLPS’s commitment to connecting ideas, people, and opportunities. By fostering high-level dialogue between technology providers and financial institutions, CLPS is driving cross-industry synergy. These collaborations serve as a catalyst for innovation, transforming collective expertise into actionable growth opportunities that benefit the broader fintech ecosystem.
