US technology firm sets up base in financial hub (hktdc.com)

The high concentration of banks and financial institutions in Hong Kong presents attractive business opportunities for IT solutions providers, according to a US-based IT company.

Authentify Inc, a leader in telephone-based out-of-band authentication solutions, is expanding its international operations with the opening of a new service centre in Hong Kong. The centre, Authentify Limited Hong Kong, will provide sales and customer support services for its multi-factor authentication products aimed at financial, e-commerce and online payment firms in the Asia Pacific region. The company regards Hong Kong as the best strategic location to manage business operations in Asia Pacific.

"The Authentify authentication tool currently has worldwide reach as a result of US-based customer applications that extend into other countries and this has generated interest abroad for our technology," said Mr Peter Tapling, CEO of Authentify.

Logical choice

"The high concentration of banks and financial institutions in Hong Kong, which represent our leading vertical market, made the city a logical choice for basing our Asia Pacific operations."

With the opening of Authentify Ltd Hong Kong, customers will have local access to a comprehensive range of services including dedicated regional account staff, technical implementation people skilled in IT risk assessment and management and 24/7 technical support.

Authentify's regional director for Asia, Robert Soden, said: "Financial services firms around the globe face the same dilemma, how to implement a more secure and trustworthy form of user authentication to protect their online systems from being compromised by fraudulent people posing as legitimate users. With the opening of Authentify Ltd Hong Kong, we are providing businesses in Asia Pacific with local access to the resources they need to implement the same effective and easy-to-use authentication service used by leading US banks and e-commerce properties."

The Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, John Rutherford, pointed out that the opening of Authentify's "regional headquarters in Hong Kong is a classic example of how the dynamic growth of various sectors in the region has created an array of business opportunities for many enabling industries, such as IT."