8月初，我們深入探究了中國金融科技產業的現狀，這也是今年早些時候《財富》雜志首屆頭腦風暴金融大會上某次早餐圓桌會的主題。

那天早上的會議中，我們的特邀演講者早早就在一個問題上達成了共識：在金融科技領域，中國比全球任何國家都要先進得多。區塊鏈投資公司Proof of Capital的執行合伙人楊佩珊表示：“如果你想看看金融科技的未來，去中國就能看到。”她表示，阿里巴巴的子公司螞蟻金服和騰訊的微信是數字銀行和數字支付的典范。

中國金融科技初創企業品鈦的總裁周靜解釋稱，中國金融科技產業的崛起依賴于軟件應用和手機的普及。“過去，人們沒有智能手機，如果住得很遠，就無法獲得在美國隨時可用的信息或服務。”周靜說。

“今天，不用在當地開銀行分行，就可以接觸到住在西藏和你從未聽說過的遙遠地區的客戶。” 周靜繼續說道，“只需花費非常少的甚至接近于零的成本，你就可以向中國大多數人提供零售金融產品。”

另一家中國金融科技初創企業融360的首席執行官、董事長及聯合創始人葉大清談到了在這樣一個新市場中經營所面臨的一些挑戰。他說，讓新買家和賣家彼此信任并不容易。

融360面臨著為掠奪性借貸機構提供網貸平臺的爭議，葉大清在回答相關問題時表示，公司一直在正面處理這個問題。“我們有責任確保平臺上產品的可靠性——他們必須遵守相關規章制度。”他還表示，公司一直在“收緊”市場。

葉大清還強調了消費者教育的重要性。“記住，對于許多中國消費者來說，這是他們人生中第一次用信用卡，或者是第一次購買保險。我們需要幫助人們理解什么是復利，什么是APR”，APR指的貸款年利率，也就是貸款需要支付的利息。他說：“我們正在與金融服務提供商合作，確保他們良好守信，不會進行誘騙式的營銷。”

由于中國的消費者基礎不斷壯大，而且前進的道路上幾乎沒有什么根深蒂固的阻礙，中國一直在技術上實現跨越式發展。中國一直在試驗新的理念，比如受到爭議的社會信用體系——該體系根據人們的行為進行評級，并根據評級限制或允許他們獲得服務。中國最近即將取得的成就是：央行在8月12日表示，經過五年的發展，它“差不多準備好”發行自己的數字貨幣。

中國幣能否代表金融科技的前沿？我們要等有更多的細節才能回答這個問題。但是，正如楊佩珊在會上的小組討論中所言，中國政府對區塊鏈技術的興趣，似乎是出于對金錢的吸收和控制；它不像眾多加密貨幣支持者那樣那么關心去中心化的愿景。

“我非常看好中國。”楊佩珊表示。（財富中文網）

譯者：Agatha

We discussed the roiling Sino-American trade war and the shock depreciation of China’s currency at the beginning of August. Today we’re going to take a deeper look at the status of the financial technology industry, or fintech, within China, which was the subject of a breakfast roundtable Fortune hosted at its inaugural Brainstorm Finance conference earlier this year.

Early on during that morning session, our featured speakers found a point of agreement: the Middle Kingdom is far more advanced than just about any other nation when it comes to financial tech. “If you want to see the future of fintech, just go to China,” said Edith Yeung, managing partner of Proof of Capital, a blockchain-focused investment firm. She cited Alibaba-spinoff Ant Financial and Tencent’s WeChat as paragons of digital banking and payments.

Zhou Jing, president of Pintec, a Chinese fintech startup, explained the Chinese industry’s rise as hinging on the proliferation of software applications and mobile phones. “In the past people didn’t have smartphones and they didn’t have access, if they lived far away, to information or services that are readily available in the U.S.,” Zhou said.

“Today, without opening a bank branch you can reach out to customers who live in Tibet and faraway places you’ve never heard of,” Zhou continued. “You can provide retail financial products to the majority of the population in China at marginal cost, or close to zero.”

Daqing “David” Ye, CEO, chairman, and cofounder of Rong360, another Chinese fintech startup, discussed some of the challenges that attend operating in such a new market. It’s not simple to get new buyers and sellers to trust one another, he said.

Responding to a question about a controversy over Rong360 hosting predatory lenders on its loan-originating marketplace, Ye said his company has been tackling the issue head-on. “We have the responsibility to ensure the accountability of products on our platform—they have to obey the rules and regulations,” he said, noting that the company had been “tightening up” its market.

Ye also highlighted the importance of consumer education. “Keep in mind, for many Chinese consumers, this is the first time in their whole lives they want to use credit or buy insurance. We need to help people understand what’s a compound interest rate, what is APR,” or annual percentage rate, meaning the interest due on loans. “We’re working with financial service providers to make sure they follow good, best practices and can’t do bait-and-switch marketing,” he said.

With a surging consumer base and little entrenched infrastructure to stand in the way, China has been leapfrogging ahead technologically. The country has been experimenting with new ideas, such as its controversial social credit system, which grades people based on their behavior and either restricts or green-lights their access to services. The latest impending achievement: On August 12, China’s central bank said it was “almost ready” to release a digital currency of its own after five years of development.

Will China-coin represent the leading edge of finance? We’ll have to wait for more details to find out. But, as Yeung pointed out during the panel discussion, the Chinese government’s interest in blockchain technology appears to be driven by a desire to co-opt and control money; it cares less about the vision of decentralization promoted by so many cryptocurrency boosters.

“I’m very bullish on China,” Yeung said.