In 2016 government regulators became more involved in the fintech industry in a variety of ways; while new regulations were discussed across the globe, governments also got more involved in the industry through sandbox and innovation programs; China's fintech market continued to grow in 2016 with both private market funding and fintech company growth; in 2016 robo advisors and blockchain emerged with new services; the market now offers a broader range of robo advisor services and the leading asset managers have introduced their own platforms; blockchain also reported unprecedented growth with distributed ledger being used for a wider variety of solutions across all industries; all of these industry developments are expected to remain in focus for 2017. Source
CreditEase has been reporting significant fintech investment from a range of fintech funds managed by the firm; it announced this week that its CreditEase Wealth Management Offshore Private Credit Fund (OPCF) was investing $30 million in OnDeck and LendingHome and that it also had plans for another Offshore Private Credit Fund (OPCF II) focused on fintech with a $200 million investment target; at LendIt USA 2017 the firm announced three new fintech investments for its CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund (CEFIF) which has $1 billion in total committed capital; it's also investing in Israeli fintech through two funds focused on tech startups in Israel. Source
Fox Fintech, an affiliate of Sohu.com, was able to obtain the first micro-credit license by the Ningbo City Government in China; Alex Ho, Fox Fintech Group's founder and CEO, commented, "We are applying advanced technologies in big data, facial recognition, machine learning and self-developed algorithms to bring efficient, convenient and inclusive credit service to China."; the internet micro-credit license allows for Fox Fintech to lend across the country, traditional micro-credit licenses are limited to the city where they are approved. Source
Global Times recently comments on China's unregulated internet finance sector, stating that the online finance market requires cooling through tighter regulation after years of explosive but unruly growth; due to the lack of regulation, internet finance is often associated with financial irregularities, with many players operating without obtaining any license, for one; Global Times believes only a regulated internet finance industry can serve the real economy, and that chaotic development of internet finance will only pose risks to the country's financial stability. Source
Fintech is helping to increase consumer spending in China as lenders provide increased access to capital; these lenders are becoming more integrated with merchants and providing point of sale credit options; Dumaio is one example of a fintech lender that has been successful by adapting to market demand; real estate fintech platforms are also emerging in the country with Shenzhen-based Touchouwang offering domestic real estate investment opportunities and Beijing-based Uoolu offering foreign real estate investments. Source
Fosun Group has invested in Shanghai Distributed Technologies (SDT); the amount was in the tens of millions of yuan; SDT works on blockchain with financial firms and has a joint venture with the Guiyang city government to develop blockchain-based systems for public services; SDT is a startup behind Onchain, which is founded by Da Hongfei, one of the earliest blockchain participants in China. Source
Nuoyuan Technology is optimistic about financial innovation in China and globally; the firm is growing its business in China and through its subordinate business, Nuoyuan Online Platform, offers a service that connects borrowers with lenders; Nuoyuan Online has now helped to finance over 5 billion RMB and has over 600,000 users; in their featured blog post they discuss the global market for fintech innovation and their expectations for the future. Sponsored Blog Post
The report, "Payment: The Ecosystem Gateway" is the first one in Goldman Sachs' "The Rise of China FinTech" series; the report focuses on the emergence of new electronic payment methods, as payment is a crucial gateway to most other services, and this is where the innovators have gained the strongest footholds in China. Source (Chinese)