2017 International Monetary Forum·Theme 5: Financial Transactions Driven by Fintech: Innovation and Security

2017-07-16 IMI
On the afternoon of July 16, with the theme of “Financial Transactions Driven by Fintech: Innovation and Security”, the “2017 International Monetary Forum Theme 5 Su-Forum” was held in Renmin University of China. The forum was co-hosted by IMI and China Fintech50 Forum (CFT50), and it was presided over by Yang Tao, Assistant Director of Finance Institute, CASS, and Chief Economist of CFT50. 1 Cao Tong, Co-director of IMI, Chairman of Board of XFintech Corporation Limited made the opening remarks. He pointed out that, at present the essence of Fintech was that based on the maturity of a set of genes from the Internet era, the post-Internet era has brought changes to financial relations of production, so that many financial services have transformed from inner functions of financial institutions to financial infrastructure of the society. These changes will lead to adjustment of the financial system, and solve the problems in the multi-layered capital market and inclusive finance. Meanwhile, the development of Fintech is beneficial to the reconstruction of the regulatory system, and to the development of a better and more efficient regulatory system with strict control. 2 Keynote speeches were given by: Li Lihui, Member of Financial and Economic Committee of NPC, Head of Blockchain of National Internet Finance Association, Former Deputy President of Bank of China; Wang Yonghong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Center for Clearing of PBoC, Former Director General of Technology Department of PBoC; Qin Yi, Managing Partner of Investment Management of Deloitte Asia Pacific; Huang Jinlao, Vice President of Suning Commerce Group, Vice Executive President of Suning Financial Group. 3 Li Lihui pointed out in his speech that as credit is the basis of finance, and credit popularization is the premise of inclusive finance, how to apply big data technologies in popularizing credit and creating added value for credit, and to further promote financial transformation and upgrading and develop inclusive finance are important topics.  He said that nowadays big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain are playing the leading role in Fintech, so only by integrating technologies and technological innovation could we realize the transformation of the financial industry. He suggested that we should strengthen the institutional construction and improve the laws and regulations on data collection, recording and application; we should make clear planning on data information, and limit the scope of data application to prevent the abuse of enterprise or individual information. Meanwhile, we should also upgrade the security technologies and systems to adjust to the new environment of data technology, and apply effective technologies and control measures to maintain data security. 4 Wang Yonghong provided new ideas from the perspective of the banking technology sector. He pointed out that any changes in the way of doing business, way of life and way of living brought by technological advancement would develop gradually. Technological development is a process in which productivity promotes the changes of production relations, at the same time, production relations also have influences on productivity. The way Internet institutions apply new technologies is totally different from traditional banks, the former ones utilize a series of technologies to change the habits of users, and rebuild the relationship between people, business and finance. Mr. Wang thought that cloud computing would influence the development of the banking sector, and in the future, the development of the core systems of banks would bring a new opportunity for technological businesses. Besides, he thought that deep learning technologies should be applied in financial big date to form new risk control model and new credit model. 5 Qin Yi said that the innovation of technological companies involved using technologies to change traditional operation models of the financial sector and take more market shares from traditional financial institutions. She pointed out that innovation was aimed at creating a new operation model with business value. To realize real innovation requires full understanding of clients’ needs, and self-sufficient technologies with a positive return of investment. Innovation does not necessarily mean the arrival of a new technology; it means the increase in efficiency due to the application of a new technology. She emphasized that innovation was not to develop a specific concept by a platform, an individual or a company, rather, it was to create a new product by the combination of multiple platforms and technologies, which was also the vision of real innovators. 6 Huang Jinlao mentioned that the development of Fintech was for solving the problems during financial transactions, and the theme and aim of finance was to allocate resources in different locations and at different time despite uncertain conditions, and the essence of Fintech development was to reduce transaction costs. Besides, the key to reducing transaction costs lies in enhancing the trust between the two parties and shortening the trading chain. He pointed out that by far Fintech has been mainly applied among individuals, and it just started among enterprises. He thought that in the future, the application of Fintech among enterprises would mainly be in the supply chain, which would help control warehouses through recognition technologies and the Internet of Things. 7 The theme of Roundtable DiscussionⅠwas “Artificial Intelligence and Innovation and Security of Financial Transactions”, and the discussion was presided over by Yan Wentao, General Manager of Credit Investigation, Zhong Cheng Xin Credit Rating Corporation Limited. Guo Zhenzhou, CEO of Quark Finance thought that the development of inclusive finance relied on developing technologies to increase efficiency, reduce costs, better control risks and meet the diversified needs of clients. Meanwhile, innovation does not contradict security, because security comes from innovation and security is driven by innovation. Jiang Tao, Founder and CEO of Tongdun Technology thought that the major influence of artificial intelligence on financial transactions was increasing efficiency and reducing risks. The rapid growth of the retail industry and consumer financial business demands more on automatic decision and analysis. As a result, relevant technologies such as decision making engines, complex network, real-time computing, automatic training platforms based on models and innovation-driven companies would also develop fast. At the same time, some technologies substantially reduce risks, such as frauds and credit-related risks. Yin Jiayin, Vice-President of Elements Credit pointed out that, in the future artificial intelligence would become an important element in financial transaction services, and it would help discover the potential demand in the financial sector: in the front, customer services going on, in the middle, credit extension and transaction decisions, in the background, risk control, examination and supervision. Teng Fang, Co-Founder of InnoTree.cn thought that the driving forces of this round of Fintech development came from global deleveraging, and the inner driving force was artificial intelligence. We must have a clear understanding of the boundaries of artificial intelligence, and make full use of this technology in the financial sector. He pointed out that we should improve relevant laws and regulations, clarify the regulatory responsibilities of different institutions, so that we could clear the way for the development of Fintech. Nie Fanqi, Founder and CEO of FDT emphasized that the key to financial innovation and security was the structure of investors. Artificial intelligence would bring a new life for financial institutions, rather than destruction, helping lower the threshold of financial services and realize inclusive finance. 8 The theme of Roundtable Discussion Ⅱ was “Blockchain and Innovation and Security of Financial Transactions”, and it was presided over by Cao Feng, Vice Chairman of Board and Chief Scientist of Shenzhen Block Chain Financial Service. Huang Lianjin, Chief Expert of Huawei Hyperledger introduced the application of blockchain, such as Bitcoin and identity chain, and analyzed the security attribute of blockchain. Deng Di, Chairman of Board of Taiyiyun Technology believed that the development of blockchain not only involved the context of use, but also included the business models of enterprises. Tom Ding, Co-Founder and CEO of String Labs pointed out that although blockchain has not changed productivity, it has turned the production relations into flat ones. However, due to the lack of sufficient users and relevant infrastructure, blockchainhas not been ready to be a killer application at this time. Wang Jing, Co-Founder and CEO of Bubi Technologies thought that only by analyzing the role of blockchain in reducing costs and increasing efficiency from the perspective of business, could we promote the products we have created. Wu Fenghai, Vice President of Union Mobile Financial Technology Co., Ltd. pointed out that before the inflection point of innovation turns out, there would be a period of preparation. The development of blockchain still requires some time for infrastructure construction.