Interview: China's fintech industry booms with robust momentum, says industry insider

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NEW YORK, July 3 (Xinhua) -- China's financial technology (fintech) industry is leapfrogging, and the boom is seen as driven by increasing demand for digital financial services and vigorous technological innovation, a Chinese entrepreneur has said.

"We (China) just started fintech a few years ago. The industry is still in an early stage ... But I believe the next decade will be a decade of fintech," said Ye Daqing, co-founder, chairman and chief executive of Rong 360.com, a search platform offering financial services.

Fintech has penetrated into a wide variety of financial services in China, ranging from digital payments, digital insurance to online banking and mobile wealth management, Ye told Xinhua in a recent interview.

At the back of the industry's robust growth are primarily two factors, one being the rapidly growing domestic consumption countrywide, said the industry insider.

"More people need access to credit, and small businesses need to grow and borrow (more money)," he said, adding that the industry has benefited from China's growing middle class and improving living standards of rural citizens.

The other factor lies in the fact that China has spearheaded in the adoption of relevant cutting-edge technologies among consumer-oriented financial services, according to Ye.

His viewpoints are supported by a batch of statistics. China and India have notched the highest fintech adoption rate in 2019, according to a report released by accounting giant Ernst & Young (EY) earlier this month.

The biennial report showed that 87 percent of digitally active consumers in China use fintech services, a marked upswing from 69 percent in 2017.

The report, titled "Global FinTech Adoption Index 2019," was conducted based on interviews with more than 27,000 consumers in 27 markets.

Ye noted that China's fintech market focuses on "the retail side," as mobile payments and online lending became dominant sectors in the country's fintech industry.

The EY report also pointed out the services that use fintech "most commonly" worldwide are categorized as money transfer and payments, with 75 percent of consumers using at least one service in this category.

In China, where money transfer and payment apps are pervasive, the adoption rate hits 95 percent.

The most commonly used services in this category are peer-to-peer payments, non-bank money transfers, and in-store mobile payments, said the report.

In the banking sector, Ye mentioned that a slew of Chinese financial institutions "are innovating," which would reduce banks' reliance on branches, and facilitate people's decision-making.

"China's financial institutions are spending more and more money on scientists and technology to offer smart products and manage risk better," he said.

"For example, some banks work on mass customization to provide better user experience," he added, referring to the delivery of modified goods and services to satisfy a specific customer's need.

In this aspect, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest state-owned commercial bank, has integrated fingerprint identification function into mobile banking operations.

China Minsheng Bank, a national bank founded by private capital, has utilized big data and cloud computing in its marketing and risk management. Enditem

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