PBOC considers new tactics to regulate fintech
June 26, 2017 Category Finance, Weekly
China’s booming fintech sector is drawing closer scrutiny from regulators who are confronted with the dilemma of how to establish better monitoring without the regulatory overreach that would stifle innovation in the sector. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has recently set up a fintech committee and stressed that it will adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to better monitor fintech players. “Fintech is growing really fast in China, which has become a global leader in the field. In such a big financial market, the industry has a powerful internal dynamic,” said Sun Guofeng, Director of PBOC’s Research Institute, at a public forum in Qingdao. “It poses a great challenge for regulators to control risks deriving from the disruptive emergence of the industry.” Fintech firms typically use technology, such as mobile phones and cloud computing, to provide more affordable and easier-to-access financial services to a wider population, from online loans and insurance to e-payment and crowd-funding investment. In 2016, investment in China’s fintech firms more than tripled to a record USD10 billion, surpassing the U.S. for the first time and accounting for 43% of global fintech investment, according to Accenture. Leading the deals was Alibaba’s financial-services affiliate Ant Financial, which closed a USD4.5 billion fundraising round in April 2016. The company operates the popular online payment platform Alipay. The number of mobile payment users increased to a record 459 million in 2016, up 31% from the previous year. The total transaction value of mobile payment also rose 46% to CNY157.6 trillion. Non-bank payment agencies’ online transactions reached CNY26.5 trillion in value in the first quarter, making up 3.55% of the total amount of online transactions, up 1 percentage point from the same period last year. Alipay and WeChat have become leading players in the mobile payment area, the South China Morning Post reports.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world