A new survey from Ernst & Young indicates that Chinese consumers are world leaders in the usage and adoption of the latest Fintech innovations.
The EY Fintech Adoption Index 2017 indicates that 69% of digitally active Chinese have made use of Fintech in at least one of the three survey areas of investment, payment and wealth management planning.
The rate for China is well above the average international rate of 33%, as well as significantly ahead of second and third place nations India and UK, whose Fintech adoption rates are 52% and 42% respectively.
According to Jack Chen, managing partner of EY China’s financial services, the high rate of Fintech adoption amongst Chinese consumers is due to government support for innovation, as well as an ample pool of talent in the tech sector and a huge volume of domestic capital that is eager to invest in Fintech companies.
Chinese are especially avid users of Fintech via their smart phones, with mobile payments emerging as the strongest industry segment due to the convenience it brings to consumers.
“China’s mainland is widely known overseas for efficient and fast payment through mobile phones,” said Chen.
“The adoption rate of mobile payment, the most popular segment of Fintech, is especially high along the east coast.”
The “China Payments and Settlement Development Report (2017)” released in May by the National Institution for Finance and Development found that mobile payments beat online payments in China for the first time ever last year.
According to the report China’s payment sector processed a total of 122.86 billion mobile payment transactions in 2016, well ahead of the total number of online payment transactions which stood at 112.88 billion in total.
