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Tencent insists it is a collaborator, not a disrupter, of China’s financial markets

  • Tencent President Martin Lau said in a webinar that China’s regulators encourage innovation from “trusted operators” if it is beneficial to society
  • The country’s fintech industry was shaken this week when regulators scuttled a public offering from Ant Group, which was set to be the world’s largest IPO

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Tencent’s WeChat Pay is one of China’s top two mobile payments platforms. In comments made public this week, the company’s president positions Tencent as a beneficial collaborator in fintech as regulatory scrutiny bruises its biggest competitor. Photo: Reuters
Tencent Holdings’ president said the company is working closely with regulators to make it clear that it is not bringing disruption to the industry, but collaboration. The statements were made in a pre-recorded video released publicly on Wednesday, one day after China’s regulators announced a clamp down on the booming microlending market.

“In our various fintech businesses, we position ourselves as a collaborator and technology enabler of the industry and with other partners, rather than a disrupter in the market,” Tencent President Martin Lau Chi-ping said during the Hong Kong FinTech Week webinar. According to the organiser, the video was recorded in October before the new rules were announced.

Lau continued, “In that principle, we work very closely with regulators, and within the regulatory framework, with strong respect for risk management, which is fundamental to financial services and financial markets.”

Tencent is one of China’s largest players in the fintech industry. The company’s WeChat Pay is one of the top two mobile payment services, running inside the ubiquitous WeChat messaging app, which has 1.2 billion monthly active users. The app’s mobile payment service has 900 million MAUs and processes a billion transactions every day, according to Lau.

Lau’s comments represent an ongoing theme in China’s fintech industry, where providers have previously sought to present themselves as collaborators that are benefiting the finance industry. But the public release of this particular video coincides with upheaval in the industry.

Just this week, the Chinese government cracked down on Tencent’s biggest fintech competitor, Ant Group. The company, which is an affiliate of The South China Morning Post owner Alibaba Group Holding, was set to go public in Shanghai and Hong Kong this week with the world’s largest initial public offering. But 48 hours before trading began, Chinese regulators pulled the plug on Tuesday, sending shock waves through the industry and startling investors.

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