Orchard Platform: Asia Is 'Light Years' Ahead In Innovation

The financial services and technology sectors in the Asian online lending space are developing at a "staggering pace and scale," according to an Orchard Platform overview of the sector.

Matt Burton — the co-founder of the technology and data provider for the online lending space — visited China and offered his take on the market in a blog post.

Among the 27 “unicorn” companies in the planet, eight of them are based in China and valued at a combined $96.4 billion. Ant Financial, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA's affiliate, leads the group with a $60 billion valuation.

By comparison, 14 fintech unicorns are United States-based and valued at a combined $31 billion. Asia's fintech scene is "light-years ahead" in terms of innovation and new technologies, Burton said.

Based on what he observed during his trip, Burton said mobile payment options are the preferred transaction method there, making New York City and Silicon Valley feel "very far away."

What Is China Doing Right?

Burton argued that lending in China is synonymous with mobile payments and can be as easy as just sending a simple text message. The largest and most important technology companies there are building an ecosystem which touches every aspect of a person's life, including banking, he said.

As a result, the Chinese market has experienced a surge in the number of fintech companies, including more than 5,000 lenders offering different credit products.

"One of the big takeaways for me from this trip was that, by balancing innovation and financial inclusion with financial protection, we can all work [toward] building a global marketplace that supports the need for innovative approaches to financial services while ensuring they are properly regulated and that they promote a stable, growing economy," Burton said.

"As two of the largest markets for fintech, firms in the U.S. and China should spend the time to build the necessary relationships and bridges to take advantage of this opportunity."

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