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Commercial lenders turn to fintech as contactless financing gains ground

By JIANG XUEQING (CHINA DAILY) Updated : 2020-05-06

Banks must explore more areas like intelligent customer service, home banking and supply chain finance, said Dong Ximiao, chief analyst at Zhongguancun Internet Finance Institute.

He urged the government to strengthen financial infrastructure construction, such as launching a pilot program on opening unrestricted, fully functioning bank accounts online from a distance as the epidemic will change public behavior to a certain extent and people may continue to resist gathering for quite a long time.

Financial regulators should also encourage internet banks to speed up product innovation and encourage mainstream banks to further expand their online lending business, especially increasing the issuance of loans to small and medium-sized businesses and personal clients, he said.

Many listed banks have increased investment in financial technology to meet a fast growing demand for remote and contactless online banking services.

Fang Heying, president of China CITIC Bank Co Ltd, said the bank's budget for technology investment is 6.6 billion yuan this year, accounting for more than 3.5 percent of its operating income, and there will be no cap on its technology investment.

Compared with larger banks, small financial institutions that lack technology investment and research capabilities must step up cooperation with credible fintech companies, under the premise of clarifying their responsibilities and rights, said Ye Yanfei, an inspector of the Policy Research Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

"The epidemic has provided a huge opportunity for the financial sector to carry out business via financial technology," Ye said.

"With the development of the internet of things, financial institutions will obtain more corporate data in terms of production, marketing and purchasing to better identify business risks and distinguish good companies from bad ones more accurately," he said.

Regulatory technologies should also become more digitized, more intelligent and more tolerant in certain aspects, to encourage innovation conducted by financial institutions and adapt to the development needs of technology finance," he added.

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