China dominates list of world's top 10 Fintech companies in 2016

An advertisement for Ant Financial Services, an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, is pictured in Shanghai, October 16, 2014. [Photo/IC]

China cemented its status as a world leader in financial technology services this year, claiming five of the top 10 spots in the annual list of the globe's leading fintech companies, compiled by UK-based advisory firm KPMG and Australian investment company H2 Ventures.

China's Ant Financial, which owns and operates the country's largest online payment platform Alipay, topped the 100 Leading Fintech Innovators 2016 released Monday and was joined by four other Chinese companies. Student microloan site Qudian came in second this year, internet based lending and wealth management platform Lufax took fourth, online insurance business ZhongAn took fifth, and risk management company JD Finance came tenth.

Last year two Chinese companies made the top ten - ZhongAn claimed top spot, while Qufenqi, an electronics retailer that lets buyers pay in monthly instalments, took fourth. This year, eight Chinese companies made the top 100, compared to seven last year.

The emergence of China, increased competitiveness from emerging markets and the impact of Brexit to funding in the sector is now threatening the UK's status as the world's leading fintech center, according to analysts. The UK went from 18 companies in the top 100 last year to 13 this year, with just one - banking app Atom - in the top ten compared to two in 2015.

"The continued dominance of China, which rapidly rose last year to take the top spot, tells only part of the story," Toby Heap, founding partner of H2 Ventures, said. “We are seeing the emergence of exciting fintech players in countries across the world – from India to Israel, from Portugal to the Philippines."

Established Fintech companies are ranked based on four groups of factors: total capital raised, rate of capital raising, location and degree of sub industry disruption.

In the first quarter of this year, fintech companies in China attracted $2.4 billion from venture capital firms in nine deals, or 49 percent of the $4.98 billion in investment in the sector recorded globally. In April, Ant Financial raised a record-breaking $4.5 billion in funding.

To contact the reporter: angus@mail.chinadailyuk.com