Fintech start-up leads charge to improve forex payments for China cross-border e-commerce
Growing investments in financial technology (fintech) services are poised to disrupt traditional foreign-exchange channels and drive the expansion of cross-border retail e-commerce for Chinese companies, according to industry experts.
“None of the big names in the industry have dedicated technology to simplify the international payment requirements of businesses conducting cross-border e-commerce,” Jack Zhang, the co-founder and chief executive of fintech start-up Airwallex, told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.
Zhang said increased venture capital support for key fintech providers, such as his company, ensures that cross-border e-commerce payment solutions in China and the rest of Asia would not be “expensive, clunky and time consuming” like current processes.
The stakes are high for online merchants as research firm eMarketer forecast that there will be 291.8 million active, cross-border retail e-commerce buyers on the mainland by 2020, up from an estimated 181.2 million this year.
There is a real need for innovation in the [payments] sector
E-commerce shoppers in China are predicted to make online cross-border retail purchases totalling US$157.7 billion by 2020, compared with this year’s estimate of US$85.8 billion.
