FinTech in China soars by 9 times

Source: Xinhua | 2019-02-27

China’s investment in financial technology, or FinTech, soared ninefold last year to US$25.5 billion to account for almost half the global total — which itself more than doubled to US$55.3 billion — consulting and outsourcing services provider Accenture said in a report yesterday.

“Many investors have woken up to the fact financial technology can add a lot of benefits to businesses and consumers alike, which is why we keep seeing an increase in FinTech activity,” said Albert Chan, financial services practice lead with Accenture China.

In China, record deals in 2018 came from “Big Tech” firms such as Alibaba’s Ant Financial, which raised US$14 billion; Du Xiaoman Financial, which was spun off from Baidu for US$4.3 billion; and US$1.3 billion in funding raised by wealth management platform Lufax.

The booming FinTech demand has also seen several Chinese firms list, including Nasdaq-listed Lexin and New York-listed Jianpu and PPDai.