Chinese insurance giant Ping An Insurance Group is making is debut investment in continental Europe with a Berlin-based fintech concern.
Ping An’s Global Voyager Investment Fund is leading the latest round of funding for German fintech firm Finleap, which provides digital solutions for the European banking, insurance and asset management sectors.
The funding round is expected to raise around 41.5 million euros (approximately USD$47 million) for the Berlin-based company.
Ping An established its Global Voyager Investment Fund in 2017 with $1 billion in seed capital, for the purpose of investing in fintech and digital health start-ups.
Donald Lacey, managing director and chief of operating officer of Ping An Global Voyager, told CNBC that traditional banks were failing to fully capitalise upon the advantages brought by the latest fintech developments.
“The ability of legacy financial institutions to innovate in a meaningful way is absolutely hampered by their legacy technology systems, their legacy issues,” Lacey said.
The move comes just after Ping An unveiled plans to invest $15 billion in fintech and medical science over the upcoming decade.
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