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China Unseats US As Global Investment Leader In Financial Technology: Report (fortune.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the take-your-seat dept.

Paul Fernhout writes: China has unseated North America as the global investment leader in financial technology, or "fintech," according to Citigroup's latest report on "digital disruption." The researchers attribute the power shift to the rise of what they term "Chinese dragons," an industry term for the biggest upstarts in Asia. Think of Ant Financial, the payments spinout of Alibaba, as well as Lu.com, JD Finance, and Qufenqi, emerging eastern juggernauts that are generally less familiar to consumers in the west. China accounted for more than half of all fintech investments globally in the first nine months of last year, the report said. Specifically in terms of venture capital, the country more than doubled its worldwide share of the investment category, rising to 46% of the global total versus just 19% the same period in 2015. The U.S., meanwhile, sunk to 41% of the global total from 56% during the same period in 2015, putting it behind China.

21 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Own goal! by mspohr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Trump kills TPP, giving China its first big win
    https://www.washingtonpost.com...

    "Economists have warned that many of Trump’s proposals — including suggestions that he would impose blanket double-digit tariffs on goods from Mexico and China — could backfire on the American economy by causing prices to rise or igniting a trade war,"

    A retreat from the TPP now gives Beijing, which has been negotiating its own trade blocs, a chance to fill a void. Since Trump's election, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia have shifted toward China's proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which would also reduce tariffs — without many of the standards put in place by Obama's plan — and redirect Asian trade China's way. Other nations in the region are likely to follow suit.

    --
    I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    1. Re:Own goal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's what slashdot overwhelming wanted and bitched about incessantly for the last 3 years or so.

    2. Re:Own goal! by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 4, Informative
      EFF Delivers 210,000 Signatures Opposing Trans-Pacific Partnership

      The Case Against Ratifying the Trans Pacific Partnership

      Full Text of Trans-Pacific Partnership Released (Officially, This Time)

    3. Re:Own goal! by Z80a · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know that TPP was not about america but the mega multinational corporations, right?
      It would contain the SOPA/PIPA shit, an shady tribunal that would allow the mega corporations to sue countries for "loss of potential profits" among other many, many fun things.

    4. Re:Own goal! by jandersen · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly. China has spent the last several decades making friends in the developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America, before going on the charm offensive in particularly Europe. I work for a global organisation, and have colleagues from Pakistan, who can't stop heaping praise on China, and you can understand why. America, they say, comes in and behave like colonial masters, ordering them about, whereas China help them achieve things they need and which they take pride in - like a big highway from China to Pakistan, apparently, and a large seaport (if I remember correctly). Yes, everybody does understand that this also serves China's interests, but that is sort of obvious, isn't it?

      The point is - China are in a good position to take over from America, not just in APAC, but more or less globally; and probably in a much less threatening way than the US. A few years of Trump will help China enormously - when I talked to my Chinese acquaintances about Trump before the election, they all hoped that he would be elected - and it was not because they thought he will "make America great again". Brexit is another thing that they are quite happy about - it weakens both EU and UK, so they will be more open to making deals with China.

    5. Re:Own goal! by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      This is good in my book. It means that the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and so on will now get the absolute ass-reaming that the US would have gotten if they signed on with TPP. Any trade deal negotiated in secret from the people should be pissed on and burned at the first opportunity.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    6. Re:Own goal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yep, and what does the world see of the USA.... bombs being dropped on other countries, mass shootings, government officials telling us all how the USA has a big stick, how the various LEOs ignore the laws and spy on their own people, how the police seem to shoot and kill with impunity.

      America is looking more and more like a bully trying to force policies that are solely in favour of America on the rest of the world.

      And then you elect a pathological liar to lead your country making it look more and more that the US can not be trusted.

      So of course China looks like a more reasonable option, and no matter how much "alternative truth" gets spewed, China either is or soon will be the worlds biggest economy and as far as international exporters are concerned its also the country with the largest consumer growth potential, making it even MORE important to trade with China.

      The US is a highly protectionist economy, in comparison China is relatively free.

      Asia accounts for 60% of the worlds population, the USA 4%.

      And yes, the US will get caught meddling in the politics of Asian countries as the US tries to sow discord in Asia to try and blunt China's growing influence.

    7. Re:Own goal! by KeensMustard · · Score: 2, Insightful

      By igniting a trade war you mean competing and not just massively importing (defacto not competing and bolstering China's economy)?

      China is not a signatory to the TPP, the whole point of the TPP was to include the US and exclude China, giving the US preferential access into those markets. No deal, then no preferential access.

      Who cares about the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia markets which are pathetically small for goods that the US would even consider exporting?

      Anybody who wants influence in SE Asia cares about access to those markets and the influence that trade relationships get you. The recent events in the South china sea demonstrates why the Philippines are important strategically.

    8. Re:Own goal! by mspohr · · Score: 2

      Yes.
      Now the US is shut out of the "benefits" of the TPP and China gains the leadership position.
      The TPP was deeply flawed but the flaws benefited the US greatly. Now they will benefit China.
      Trump's complete lack of understanding of geopolitics and economy has led him to this first (of many) stupid decisions... (how's the wall coming along, bozo)

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    9. Re: Own goal! by PoopJuggler · · Score: 2

      America will continue to decline until we stop. electing. terrible. leaders..

    10. Re:Own goal! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      It's not a binary choice. TPP could be reworked into something good instead of abandoned.

      In any case, the other countries are now looking for someone to replace America, and the most likely candidate is China.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    11. Re:Own goal! by argStyopa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Except, it's a non-fungible choice.

      The US has led the free world for 70+ years, and is taken for granted by its allies and even the neutrals - the US military protects them, so they can spend $ on butter not guns (and then out-compete US industries). The US taxpayer's checkbook funds their social spending so they can complain freely about what a shithole America is.

      We're spending $billions on foreign aid...that we have to BORROW FROM CHINA. That's like taking out a mortgage so you can continue making donations to United Way.

      I've always been an internationalist, moreso than most of my peers but even I recognize that while of course there is enlightened self-interest in foreign aid, we've built a culture of world-addiction to American sacrifice. We're done spending blood and treasure to try to drag some shathole country into the 20th century, to say nothing of the 21st. ISIS is a problem? Yep, maybe fix your own country instead of fleeing to a nicer place. You're overwhelmed with troublesome refugees? Maybe a coast guard or even some semblance of border security is YOUR problem, we're not taking any of them.

      No, I would say instead that a few years of China will help the US enormously

      --
      -Styopa
    12. Re:Own goal! by dunkelfalke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're overwhelmed with troublesome refugees? Maybe a coast guard or even some semblance of border security is YOUR problem, we're not taking any of them.

      Now that really pisses me off. USA has destabilised the region in first place. You break it - you buy it. But instead you insist that they are not your problem.
      That is why I say "fuck you and the horse you rode on in".

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  2. Tradewar by backslashdot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We are going to put tariffs on imports? That will not help the economy. It won't help anyone.

    Products will get more expensive for people who have money and incomes today. If we forcefully bring manufacturing jobs back here, it means that workers and business owners have to pay extra for goods due to the salaries of the workers in those jobs.

    I mean, we have 90 million people not working today of which only about 20 million can probably work -- maybe even less. The rest are either too young, students, disabled, or old.

    So we are going to put that 20 million to work, by paying $10 for a screwdriver instead of $5? By paying $300 for a phone that may cost only $200 today?

    From the perspective of an income earner isn't that worse than being taxed and having a portion of the tax go towards welfare for the unemployed?

    The advantage of giving someone welfare over paying them to do unnecessary work is that the person on welfare would have time to learn new skills plus you lose the overhead costs. And yes if someone or something else can do my work more efficiently then my work is by definition unnecessary.

  3. The war is over. Survival now matters by thesupraman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes.. You are addicted to cheap consumer goods.
    Right now that means a proportion of the money you spend hours to China.. And a big lump goes to offshore tax havens for the corps.. But at least their domestic share price goes up..

    However.. Very soon those goods will be designed owned and build by purely Chinese companies. Then much more of what you spend will leave the country.. forever.

    So.. you can either give up on your cheap consumer goods of wave goodbye to your economy.

    It's really that simple. China is already out spending America on r&d. It's people are more success hungry. They have less invested in a nice safe middle class existence. They are going to innovate and produce you in to the dirt.
    In exactly the same way the us did to Europe back in the day.

    Your choices are few and difficult.

    1. Re:The war is over. Survival now matters by backslashdot · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, it won't leave America forever.

      First off, as an aside, we aren't giving the Chinese money for nothing. They are giving us product in return. We keep the benefit of that product forever. Even if it's a toy that helps in child development. The lower cost screwdriver may allow you to live in a better house.

      More importantly, the money isn't gone forever. You seem to believe that we will never be able to offer anything the Chinese would ever want. That's just basically false. They are buying stuff from us like airplanes, construction equipment, entertainment, and high tech stuff. Even though they have 1.3 billion people, they still cannot and never will be able to make *everything* they would ever want. It's basically defeatist to say the Chinese won't want anything we can make. How does Germany have a trade surplus with China? Germans buy nearly as much stuff per capita from China as Americans .. yet they are consistent with a trade surplus with China. That's because Germans have figured out what Chinese want to buy and they are selling to them. China gets a lot of its machinery from Germany. Germany doesn't have tariffs on China and it does robust trade two ways.

    2. Re:The war is over. Survival now matters by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 3, Funny

      We keep the benefit of that product forever.

      Not if it breaks after one use

    3. Re:The war is over. Survival now matters by monkeyxpress · · Score: 2

      More importantly, the money isn't gone forever.

      The US only needs to send goods and services back the other way to otherwise prevent a trade imbalance that would collapse the USD, making the country unable to afford more goods. But that hasn't happened because the Chinese do not allow their businesses to freely dispose of the USD they get for selling their goods. Instead the USD they hold gets stuck in US treasury bills, real estate and the stock market, which keeps the USD strong against the RMB and allows Chinese mercantilism to continue. Indeed, it is wholely advantageous for the US to exchange printed pieces of paper (treasury bonds) that pay negative rates of interest for all the stuff they consume out of China.

      China is not stupid though. It has used this mercantilism trade to build up its own industrial base and extract western industrial knowledge. If it can successfully transition to a domestic consumption driven economy, it will not need US consumption anymore, and I imagine at that point it will start extracting its funds from the US. That will most certainly fix US unemployment - by making US wages similar to those in developing countries.

      In the end the wealth of your country is determined by the real goods and services it produces, not the various games it can play with other lawyers. It wasn't British political nous that built the empire - that was important, but the underlying base of their power was British industrial might, and the same thing is repeated through history. The US had that after the war, and so ran the world, but in the last few decades it has decided that making banking products is the key to prosperity. I have confidence it will bounce back though - the country still has incredible technological capabilities - but we could have all saved a lot of trouble if people had focused on generating real wealth, rather than fiddling the numbers on a balance sheet.

  4. Fat chance. by DrYak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    until we stop. electing. terrible. leaders

    But that in turn is impossible until you fix your asinine political system.

    (Direct democracy ? Mixed parliament ? Multiple turns presidential election ? Openly admit that the president isn't such an important position after all ?)

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  5. This is exactly what Slasdot wanted by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

    One major emphasis of the TPP was expanding US copyright and patent "protection" internationally, provisions which large-corporate globalists desperately wanted. All sorts of copyright terms would be extended, generic drugs would be more expensive and harder to get. Go ahead and support Hollywood and Big Pharma now that Trump was the one to kill it. Had Clinton or Sanders been the newly elected president to kill it, we would be hearing from a different set of critics.

  6. Actually, this looks like China playing catchup by Cesare+Ferrari · · Score: 2

    Realistically what is going on here is that china has started investing in this area, as it has massively behind - the US and Europe are miles ahead, and China aren't even on the radar. I'd suggest London is the centre for development, whilst the US provides the hardware expertise. I'm pretty certain i've not worked with any Chinese kit over the years in trading systems, and i'd be surprised if this became common for various reasons (and let's face it, security concerns would be on the list).