HONG KONG – China will support only those financial technology businesses that benefit the real economy, a top regulator says, as the government becomes more cautious about the financial risks encouraged by the fast-growing fintechs.
In a speech at the Asian Financial Forum, Jiang Yang, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said the development of fintech should support the wider economy, instead of profiting only "a small group of people," reported Nikkei Asian Review.
Jiang's remarks echoed Chinese authorities' increasing unease about the ever-changing industry, as regulators step up efforts to stabilize the financial system, Nikkei Asian Review said.
The People's Bank of China last September outlawed initial coin offerings, a means of crowdfunding using cryptocurrency, followed by a halt of virtual currency trading on domestic exchanges. The fast-growing and loosely regulated online person-to-person lending platforms and underground fundraising activities also unsettle financial regulators, Nikkei Asian Review stated.
China accounted for half of the world's digital payments and three-quarters of the global online P2P lending volume in 2017, according to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.