Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Hong Kong has unique role in boosting China’s fintech prowess

Hong Kong has unique role in boosting China’s fintech prowess

Hong Kong, as the gateway to China and a rising regional fintech power, has much to offer and is poised to reap the rewards, says Paul Chan, ignoring the fact that Hong Kong business model was never really a finance center, but a bureaucratic center that is designed to feed huge labor that doing nothing productive: accountants, lawyers, regulators and compliance officers. HK is not anymore the gate to China but the tail of China. Way behind in fintech, technology and innovators.

Hong Kong has a vital role to play in the development of financial technology in China as the country’s fintech giants including Alibaba Group Holding, Ant Group, Tencent Holdings and others have plenty of room to increase revenue at home and internationally, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po.

“In a remarkably short time, China has become one of the largest fintech markets in the world,” Chan said in a statement to mark the release of the South China Morning Post’s China Fintech Report 2020. “As the mainland continues to expand its flourishing fintech sector, Hong Kong, as one of the world’s leading financial centres, the unique business gateway to the mainland and a rising regional fintech power, has much to offer and is poised to reap the rewards.”

The report, produced by SCMP Research and based on the Post’s reporting, provides investment insights and in-depth analysis of how digital payments, virtual banking, as well as online wealth management and insurance platforms are rapidly developing in China, which leads the world in the adoption of fintech.

With exclusive case studies on key industry players, the report also offers an overview of the funding activities of these tech giants, such as the upcoming dual IPO of Ant Group in Hong Kong and Shanghai as well as Lufax’s listing in New York this week.


China’s digital behemoth Ant Group is set to raise about US$34.5 billion this week in the world’s largest initial public offering, and valuing it more than JPMorgan Chase, the world’s biggest bank.

At home, the biggest driving force for the adoption of fintech is the pervasiveness of smartphones in China, where roughly one in every two of the 1.6 billion mobile phones in the world’s largest communication market is a device capable of data and internet services, the report said. Other major contributing factors include steadily rising incomes and significant scope to broaden access to credit, wealth management and insurance products.

There is also room to grow internationally, as China seeks to export its developing fintech prowess. The most compelling export markets for Chinese fintech are developing countries, where the need for greater financial inclusion is most pressing, the report added.

As the largest fintech market in the world, nearly 90 per cent of Chinese consumers use fintech to pay for almost everything in their daily lives while most small and medium-sized enterprises use fintech to run their businesses in a cost effective manner.

The report also looked at the mainland’s emergence as the world’s biggest market for mobile payments globally. The total payment volume was well in excess of 200 trillion yuan (US$29.8 trillion) in 2019, compared to just US$100 billion in the US. As of March this year, some 776 million people in China were using mobile payment services, making purchases and sending cash digitally, with the vast majority using either Ant Group’s Alipay or Tencent’s WeChat Pay payment platforms. Ant is an affiliate of Alibaba, which owns this newspaper.

Ant Group poised to be world’s biggest private firm making public debut, with Hong Kong-Shanghai IPO


China has also become the largest market for online securities trading, responsible for around half of global trading volume, the report found. Its online wealth management and insurance markets are developing at breakneck speed, and it is further along than any major country in its development of a national digital currency.

The report argued that these new wealth management platforms have allowed millions of ordinary people to invest in assets that were previously available only to the affluent.

Users can access mutual aid plans at a fraction of the cost of regular health insurance, and although the platforms are not profitable for the operators, they can be valuable drivers of traffic to their other offerings, the report said.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×