Get ready for fintech

Fintech is seen as the most critical trend of finance as finance and technology converge, experts from countries along the New Silk Road said when discussing the possibilities in Shanghai on Saturday.

The roundtable on digitalization and fintech along Belt and Road Initiative countries and regions was part of the three-day Shanghai Forum 2019 which opened on Saturday.

Experts, scholars and business executives shared their thoughts on hot topics such as blockchain, digital currency, and new technologies which can be applied in financial services.

Lin Yongqing, founder and CEO of China Value, thinks highly of blockchain, which offers four critical advantages: no middleman, no centralization, no data oligopoly, and better privacy.

It will help solve the trust dilemma, Lin said in a speech on blockchain and the new economy.

Digital currencies are not yet accepted by the banking system, which brings uncertainty and concern.

But many investors, including Guo Chunlong, founding partner of 2048 Capital and one of the roundtable participants, still hold strong confidence in the future of digital currency, believing it will be part of a wider trend.

Also during the roundtable, William Xiong, technical director of the international business division at Ant Financial, formerly known as Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba Group, outlined the company’s progress in globalization, especially in Belt and Road countries and regions.

The roundtable was jointly organized by the China Institute of Fudan University and the Central Bank of Hungary. 

Hungary is an active participant and promoter of the 16+1 group of China and Central and Eastern European countries.

It has actively sought to coordinate its “opening to the East” policy with China's Belt and Road initiative.

China and Hungary have established comprehensive, wide-ranging and multi-level cooperation, and the bilateral relationship is at its best in history, according to a National Think Tank report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China-Hungary cooperation in the financial field is enjoying huge progress.

“As the cooperation develops ever deeper, Hungary plays a very vital role in promoting the internationalization of the yuan,” said Gao Yufei of the Fudan Development Institute at Fudan University.