December 1, 2018 @ 9:00 am By Xu Gao  |  

Sesame Credit Accepted for Canadian Visa Application This week, the Canadian Immigration Department (IRCC) announced that Chinese tourists can choose to submit his/her Sesame Credit Visa report (≥750 points) as financial proof for Canadian visa application. Sesame Credit is credit-assessment service offered by Ant Financial,… Read More

November 24, 2018 @ 9:32 am By Xu Gao  |  

Ping An Invests $47 million in Berlin-based Fintech Startup Finleap On November 20th, Ping An, one of China’s largest financial groups, announced its first entry into the European market. The Ping An Insurance Group’s Global Voyager Investment Fund led a €41.5 million ($47 million) investment… Read More

November 17, 2018 @ 12:09 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Beijing publishes Fintech Development Plan (2018-2022) Recently, the Zhongguancun Administration Committee, the Beijing Financial Work Bureau and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Committee jointly issued the “Promotion of Financial Technology Development Plan (2018-2022)” (hereinafter referred to as “plan”). The goal of the plan is,… Read More

November 9, 2018 @ 8:22 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Digital payment platform Alipay announced on Friday it has formed a new eight-year global partnership for all Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) national team football competitions from 2018 to 2026. Alipay reported that it has become the official global payments partner for the UEFA and will be at all… Read More

October 15, 2018 @ 8:13 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Ant Financial Services Group (Ant Financial), a China-based tech company and the operator of Alipay, announced on Monday the launch of their new 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion program at the 2018 Annual Meetings… Read More

October 8, 2018 @ 9:33 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Mobile payments specialist CANCAN announced on Monday it has teamed up with international payments specialist WorldFirst to launch payments and marketing platform that enables Chinese payments methods Alipay and WeChat Pay across Europe. Founded in 2015, CANCAN enables payments and promotions globally through its omnichannel platform,… Read More

September 2, 2018 @ 10:56 am By Xu Gao  |  

Xiaomi Intends to Set Up a Virtual Bank According to a report from HKEJ on August 20, the Fintech branch of Xiaomi Group – Insight Technology (Dongjian Keji)- is intending to apply for a Hong Kong virtual banking license, hoping to submit documents before the end… Read More

August 25, 2018 @ 10:49 am By Cali Haan  |  

Earlier today, and two days after WeChat suspended the social media accounts of 8 Chinese crypto news outlets, WeChat parent company Tencent has announced it will undertake “remediation measures” to monitor and “intercept” cryptocurrency sales and purchases on its WeChat Pay app. Similar news was… Read More

August 20, 2018 @ 8:12 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Digital payment platform Alipay announced on Monday the launch of its paperless tax refund service in South Korea. The firm reported that it teamed up with Global Tax Free (GTF) for the new service, which notably enables Chinese tourists to apply for and claims tax rebates on their mobile phone… Read More

July 25, 2018 @ 10:35 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Alipay, a Chinese digital payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, and San Francisco’s tourist destination PIER 39, announced on Wednesday they have formed a partnership to create a seamless payment experience for Chinese travelers. The duo reported that through the partnership, more than 40… Read More

July 22, 2018 @ 5:03 pm By Alexander Dunaev  |  

With tech titans the most valuable companies on the planet, the notion of self-regulation is no longer appropriate or fit for purpose. Is now the time for governments to step in to protect consumers and ensure a more competitive environment? The role of the technology… Read More

May 19, 2018 @ 6:46 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Multinational Retail Giant Auchan Establishes a Joint Venture of Consumer Finance with China’s Bright Food Group On April 28th, France’s Oney Bank and Bright Food Group from Shanghai, signed an investment agreement to establish Shanghai Bright-Oney Consumer Finance Co., Ltd., and submitted the materials to… Read More

March 7, 2018 @ 3:11 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Digital payment platform Alipay announced this week it has reached a new partnership milestone with Canada-based fintech Motion Pay Technology Inc. According to the company, the partnership has resulted in a significant number of merchants across Canada enabling Alipay at point-of-sale.  According to the duo, Alipay is now accepted… Read More

March 3, 2018 @ 2:02 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China Issues its First Personal Credit Rating License On February 22, the People’s Bank of China published an announcement about setting up personal credit rating agencies. According to the document, Baihang Credit Rating Co., Ltd., was granted the first personal credit rating license in China,… Read More

February 10, 2018 @ 8:03 am By Xu Gao  |  

WeChat Bans 1,000+ “Cash Loans” Mini Programs On February 6, WeChat released an official announcement about its ongoing move to clear up illegal mini programs (or mini apps) on its platform. According to the announcement, WeChat has permanently banned over 1000 “cash loans” mini programs… Read More

January 20, 2018 @ 6:58 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China’s first online centralized personal credit database is on the way Earlier this month, People’s Bank of China formally accepted the license application of Baihang Credit Investigation Ltd. Led by the National Internet Finance Association of China, Baihang will be China’s first online centralized personal… Read More

November 18, 2017 @ 11:24 am By Xu Gao  |  

A Unified Credit Rating System is On the Way People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, has made plans to launch a united platform by the end of 2017 for collecting personal credit information and assessing people’s credit ratings. Setting up this platform means the… Read More

October 28, 2017 @ 10:45 am By Xu Gao  |  

51 CreditCard (u51.com) is Planning to List in Hong Kong in 2018 51 CreditCard (u51.com), a leading online platform for credit card bill management, is reported to be listed on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) in 2018, aiming to raise at least 500… Read More

October 20, 2017 @ 3:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

Alipay has partnered with Marqeta on real-time payment processing for millions of Chinese travelers visiting North America. Marqeta is an open API payment card issuing platform. Alipay, part of Alibaba, is the world’s leading third-party payment platform with more than 520 million users. Through the partnership,… Read More

October 19, 2017 @ 9:30 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Digital payment platform Alipay announced on Thursday it has teamed up with smart terminal provider Poynt to enable its Chinese users to pay with its services through all Poynt devices in North America. The duo revealed that through their new agreement, Alipay’s Chinese users visiting North America… Read More