Hande Fintech Salon (1st Meeting) : Fintech’s Evolutionary Path
2016-07-30 IMI
Prof. Zhi Su moderated the Salon
Research fellow Minmin Fan elaborated in her keynote speech on the overall development of financial technology as well as its features and significance. She illustrated fintech's main evolutionary path and analyzed the competitive advantages that China’s fintech has on the international arena. At the end of her speech, Fan offered several suggestions for China to increase its fintech's international influence.
Research fellow Minmin Fan delivered a keynote speech
Inspired by historical experience, Fan pointed out that the financial industry has always been an information-intensive industry. Revolutionary changes have taken place and profoundly changed the landscape of ICT technology, expanding the scope of its services. Since the 2008 financial crisis, the three driving forces, namely, the government, capital and technology, have jointly contributed to the development of the fintech industry and shaped the main business model. Fintech consistently applies innovative technologies in economic activities. The industries that have witnessed its application are primarily emerging industries currently in the growth stage of the industrial life cycle, and they evolve in accordance with the industrial life cycle. In terms of the evolutionary path of fintech, Fan gave her analysis in both micro and meso levels and from the perspectives of the technological evolution, market competition and industrial convergence. She came to the conclusion that the primary business model of fintech did not change the fundamental nature of finance. To a certain extent, the fintech industry constitutes a disruptive innovation that catalyzes competition in the financial market and motivates the traditional financial industry to transform and upgrade itself through capital operation. She suggested that more new technologies were still to come and would inevitably lead to new relevant industries, but eventually the financial technology industry would merge with the financial industry and see the line blurred as the traditional financial industry takes the lead. Fan based her analysis on China's national conditions and pointed out that China’s fintech has an edge in the international arena in that it embraces a large niche market and enjoys soft regulations from the government. Meanwhile, fintech has a large mine of big data and a pool of advanced artificial intelligence technologies. To further enhance fintech's core competitiveness, we must have more advanced technologies, innovative entrepreneurs, better government regulations and improved risk prediction and governance techniques tailored for the emerging industries. On the basis of the above improvements, China can thus export the intellectual property, technology and experience that it accumulates in the fintech industry to member countries of the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative, and thereby increases the financial interconnectivity of the countries involved. Fintech is a cost-effective way to resolve the problems previously plaguing the trade settlement between countries and will lift the profile of China’s financial technology in the international arena.
After the keynote speech, scholars present in the salon exchange in-depth views on topics such as the traditional finance, financial technological innovation and how to enhance the influence of China’s financial technology.
