China FinTech Survey 2020

Mar 2021

In recent years, great transformation has taken place in China's financial services industry with the progress of technology. The combination of Finance and Technology has not only disrupted the original business model and logic of banking, insurance, securities and asset management, but is also reconstructing the strategy, operations, product service, channel and risk control of traditional financial institutions. At the same time, although FinTech companies use digital technology to innovate financial services, broaden financial scenarios, and optimise financial service experiences, they have also experienced the transition from capturing market share from traditional financial institutions to empowering them.

The year 2020 was an extraordinary year for China's FinTech development. The sudden outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic was a test for the financial sector, highlighting the importance of technology, and a driving force in accelerating the transformation of traditional financial institutions. In addition, the nation's regulation of financial technology has also changed. On the one hand, it continued to encourage innovation and pilot programs through "regulatory sandbox“. On the other hand, it introduced a number of new regulations to guide traditional financial institutions and FinTech companies to standardise innovation, protect consumers' rights and interests, and ensure fair competition in the market.

As a professional service organisation, PwC has conducted research on the FinTech industry worldwide for four consecutive years since 2016, while the focused research on Chinese respondents was conducted twice in 2017 and 2018. This report is based on the third China specific survey conducted by our team in the fourth quarter of 2020. It aims to continuously track and evaluate the development status and trends of the industry, and reflect the latest thoughts of practitioners on China's FinTech development in the post pandemic era.

A total of 200 valid questionnaires were collected in this survey, covering various segments of traditional financial institutions and FinTech companies. We hope that through the conversations with the survey participants and putting those results in writing, the report can tell the story of China's FinTech development, become a platform for gathering industry opinions and suggestions, and promote exchanges between domestic and foreign practitioners.

This is the end of China's 13th Five-Year Plan and the beginning of its 14th Five-Year Plan. Standing at this point in history and looking forward to the future, China's FinTech sector has been a world leader in many aspects, and still has great potential. However, we should also be clearly aware that China's economy is moving towards a stage of high-quality development, and the financial reform is deepening, which puts forward higher requirements for the innovation and development of the FinTech sector. Technology will continue to deeply affect all aspects of the financial industry. Traditional financial institutions and FinTech companies need to recognise these circumstances in order to find the right direction in this fast-changing world, seize the opportunity and achieve self-development.

The development of financial technologies and win-win cooperation between FinTech companies and traditional financial institutions are general trends. PwC sincerely looks forward to helping traditional financial institutions and FinTech companies develop their strengths, jointly build an ecosystem, and help serve the brick and mortar economies financially.