Chinese central bank vice-governor Fan Yifei (范一飞) has highlighted the critical importance of fintech to the future of the international financial system at a recent conference in Beijing.
In a speech delivered at the 2019 Sina Financial Qilu Forum (2019新浪金麒麟论坛) on 28 November, Fan said that “fintech is the commanding heights of future global financial competition.”
“Whoever grasps this advanced productive capability will possess the strongest core competitiveness in finance.”
Fan pointed in particular to the ability of technology to drive the “comprehensive external opening of the Chinese finance sector.”
“For example, the People’s Bank of China has established the Greater Bay Area trade finance blockchain platform, which at present has had operations in excess of 70 billion yuan,” said Fan.
“The foreign exchange authority has established a cross-border finance blockchain platform which services a total of 1590 enterprises, of which small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises comprise around 70%.”
