Fintech platforms set to make China a global payments powerbase
China looks set to become a global payments powerbase driven by the country’s enthusiastic adoption of mobile e-commerce, estimated to reach more than $800bn in 2017, which firms such have Ant Financial have used to springboard into financial services. Recently Ant Financial moved into overseas markets, investing in Paytm, India’s largest mobile payment and e-commerce platform and partnering with firms in Europe. Beyond payments P2P lending has also made significant inroads, reportedly topping $150bn in 2015 with lenders beginning to expand into other areas. Investment in fintech across the Asia-Pacific region surged by more than 500% to $2.7bn in 1Q16 according to Accenture, the lion’s share of which was attracted by Chinese platforms. Start-up’s in China typically have well-resourced parent companies, something many Western fintechs lack, and many have client bases as big as or bigger than the country’s top banks, two factors which have helped push China’s burgeoning fintech sector beyond tipping point according to a recent Citigroup report.

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