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Five major fintech trends where China is leading the world

Company’s such as Alibaba have carved out a leading role in financial technology

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Pang Yu, a 25-year-old railway ticket inspector in Beijing, shows her phone operating Ant Check, an Alibaba-linked platform, at a cafe in Beijing. The screen shows that her available credits with Ant Check is 8000 yuan. Photo Reuters, Shirley Feng
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China, the unrivalled giant in e-commerce, added another crowning achievement when it emerged as a leader in the fintech world.

In 2015, fintech attracted a record US$20.3B spread across 1,191 investments. In the latest issue of “Money of the future,” a report by INSEAD and fintech fund Life.SREDA VC uncovered the latest trends in fintech, China was seen as a clear winner in a few key areas. Here are the five sectors in fintech that China seems to be leading the world in.

Alibaba, the owner of the South China Morning Post, had the largest IPO in history because the hugely popular retailer benefits almost any time someone in China spends money online. So now it’s trying to pump even more money into the Chinese online economy, through the introduction of more current financial systems.

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At least that’s one way to look at Ant Financial. Headed by Alibaba co-founder Lucy Peng, the division— which was spun off into its own company in 2011 — began as an outgrowth of Alipay, the company’s version of PayPal.

Since then it has expanded into a full-scale financial services firm.

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Alibaba’s finance arm Ant Financial released a bunch of interesting data on Alipay, Alibaba’s online payment platform, throughout 2015.

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