China has possessed greatest potential for FinTech Startups by generating $1526 billion Retail E-commerce sales in 2018 .
Instead of being the original country of FinTech, China possesses the greatest potential for applying FinTech.
Chinese FinTech market has broad prospects. With the high popularity of the Internet and mobile devices, China has become the world's largest and most developed retail e-commerce market, creating the best external environment for the development of FinTech.
Meanwhile, China has a huge financial long tail market, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises and ordinary consumers whose financial needs have not been met yet.
In addition, traditional financial institutions have shown unprecedented enthusiasm for FinTech. Increasingly growing banks have adopted FinTech to enhance their core business capabilities, business efficiency and user experience in order to reduce risks and costs.
Under the gradual improvement of the regulatory system, FinTech enterprises and products will achieve sustainable and healthy development, so as to continue to promote the rise of the global FinTech era.
According to Accenture, an international consulting institution, global FinTech investment totalled $55.3 billion in 2018, and total investment in global FinTech has doubled, with Chinese companies investing $25.5 billion in the worldwide scope.
Ant Financial’s record $14 billion funding in May accounted for over half of China’s FinTech investment total, as well as around a third of global FinTech investment. Meanwhile, Baidu-spinoff Du Xiaoman Financial was the second largest fundraiser, raising USD$4.3 billion via two transactions, while Chinese wealth management platform Lufax also raised $1.3 billion in December 2018.
On the other hand, a large number of Chinese representatives of FinTech have set up branches overseas and entered the international market through technology, business and even capital market listing.
According to the published information, Internet dataflow-based digital technology institutions represented by BATJ (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and JD), comprehensive online wealth management platforms represented by Lufax and creditEase, and technology-based FinTech companies such as MinTech, PINTEC group and Vanpkinko Group, all have had overseas layouts.
Graph sources:
Financial Times Research:
Weinland, W and Ju, S. (2018) ‘China’s Ant Financial shows cashless is king’
eMarketer:
Cheung, M. (2018) ‘China Retail and Ecommerce 2018: The Convergence of Online, Offline and Technology’
Accenture Research Analytics:
Accenture (2019) ‘Global Fintech Investments Surged in 2018 with Investments in China Taking the Lead, Accenture Analysis Finds; UK Gains Sharply Despite Brexit Doubts’
