Tech giant Tencent has unveiled plans to launch a new fintech lab with one of China’s big six state-owned banks.
On 3 April China Construction Bank (CCB) and Tencent executed a strategic cooperative agreement in Shenzhen for the joint establishment of a fintech innovation laboratory.
The initiative will bear the official title of “China Construction Bank – Tencent Fintech Joint Innovation Laboratory” (建设银行-腾讯金融科技联合创新实验室), and focus upon technologies including artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and blockchain.
According to domestic media report the new fintech laboratory will “engage in fintech research, optimisation of financial services models, incubation of innovative products, further expansion of investment in scientific research and strengthening of scientific and technological innovation.”
CCB unveiled its “Three Main Strategies” of residential leasing, financial inclusion and fintech in 2017, with the goal of using fintech to create a modern “digital force” in Chinese banking.
In November 2018 Tencent unveiled a new “strategic upgrade” plan which called for “establishing roots in the consumer internet, embracing the industrial internet” and position the tech giant as a “digital assistant” to industrial transition.
CCB and Tencent previously collaborated on the creation of a cloud platform to support CCB’s own operating needs as well as multiple tech capability delivery projects, which saw the creation of basic infrastructure, security measures and corresponding technological capability within the space of little more than 40 days.
