Is China taking over the lead when it comes to AI in Financial Services?

Ever heard of Ping An or Zhong An? I was extremely surprised to learn about these two Chinese companies. l had never even heard of before, they are on the verge of taking over the global lead when it comes to the application of artificial intelligence in Financial Services industry. By now everyone has probably heard the incredible story of Jack Ma and Alibaba; knows their B2B retail platform Alibaba.com and maybe their B2C retail platform AliExpress. What most probably still don’t know is that Alibaba is so much more than just a retail company. Alipay, Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba Pictures, Ali Health and Ali Sports are just a few examples of the Alibaba imperium spanning over more than 15 different companies not only in e-commerce but in financial services, cyber-security, manufacturing, logistics, media, gaming, energy, health, and government sector. And every single one of these companies is combatting to be the leader in its field and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing a central role in this long-term strategy since these companies have access to such a vast variety of different data sets in China.

Chinese companies applying AI are dominating the market

In his presentation at Finovate Hong Kong Paul Schulte revealed that he had started his research with the hypothesis that Chinese companies are far behind compared to western companies when it comes to the application of AI in financial services. But, to his astonishment, his research revealed that quite the opposite was the case. According to Schulte’s findings, for areas such as wealth management, insurance, personal loans, credit rating and currency exchange, where Chinese companies applying AI are dominating the market. Western leaders like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook did not even have a relevant offering. A range of companies next to Alibaba like Tencent, Ping An or Zhong An are building dominating systems based on their data and AI.

Government regulations and the competitive landscape play in favour of new AI-based offerings

For example, Zhong An, according to Schulte the “largest insurance company in the world that you have never heard of” and ”it’s an anywhere, anything, anytime insurance company with no agents”. Schulte describes how the company gets its data from its shareholder companies: Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings, and Ping An Insurance Group. This example outlines that when it comes to AI, China government regulations and the competitive landscape play in favour of new AI-based offerings and business models. Giving these companies a massive head start in developing their technology and business models in these fields. And it will be interesting to see how long it will take these companies to expand their offering globally.

Recap of Finovate Hong Kong and two weeks in Asia

YUKKA Lab was selected to present its offering at the Finovate Asia in Hong Kong. I had the great honour to do so and take on this adventurous business trip to Asia. Our participation was a great success story. Not only did we get a feeling for the Asian market, but Finovate allowed us to connect with industry experts, investors, and journalists from all over Asia. Last but not least, we were overwhelmed by winning the “Best in Show” award, which we did not expect at all. But even if we had not won this award, we brought back home some invaluable insights and personal relationships. The two weeks in Asia outlined to me that the Asian financial industry are far more open to change and that there is a much bigger willingness to adopt new digital solutions. I was impressed by the dynamics of the Asian Fintech scene and the spectacular growth stories unparalleled in Europe.

Asia YUKKA Lab will definitely be back soon!

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