China takes lead in fintech innovations: experts

China is at the forefront of financial technological innovations that include mobile payment and artificial intelligence (AI), according to industry watchers at the SWIFT International Banker's Operation Seminar, or Sibos, in Beijing.

The four-day Sibos 2024 financial conference concluded on Thursday.

The theme of this year's conference was "Connecting the Future of Finance," with discussion that focused on the digital transformations shaping the industry.

Experts in attendance said China is at the forefront of adopting certain areas of fintech innovations such as mobile payment.

"I think the estimate is that in the next few years, the domestic mobile payment will already exceed 100 trillion U.S. dollars in the next few years," said David Chan, managing director and partner of Boston Consulting Group.

Another area of focus is called embedded finance, which integrates financial services directly into non-financial platforms or applications, such as shopping and travel apps.

The approach allows businesses to seamlessly offer services like payments, loans, insurance and investment options within their existing user experiences.

Most of the services leverage insights from collected customer data to provide tailored financial solutions.

"Also leveraging on the data to do better risk management so that they can actually allow more SMEs, more underbanked populations to be able to access funding," said Chan.

China is also leading in the research and adoption of generative AI, including chatbots that use large language models, or LLMs, to simulate real human communication.

"Even the foundational LLM is at the developing stage, but many of the global banks and insurance companies have been active in adopting use cases which are at the forefront, for example, I think these customer enablement, customer service, call centers," said Nicole Zhou, senior partner of McKinsey and Company.

However, combining AI with financial services is still at an early stage. Experts suggest for the financial industry to fully harness the power of AI, a deeper shift in the operating models of institutions is necessary, but this is expected to take time.

China takes lead in fintech innovations: experts

A China Media Group (CMG) reporter helped evacuate Chinese nationals stranded at Dubai International Airport before it was damaged in an ''incident" early on Sunday morning.

The reporter, who went to the airport by car to investigate flight delays, met several stranded Chinese nationals at the airport who had been unable to leave on their scheduled flights as the Middle East conflict forced airlines to stall operations.

The Chinese passengers said after they arrived a little before 19:00, the check-in counter was closed, raising their concern that the airport might be taken over by the military.

"I was thinking of finding some chairs for the kids to sleep on before going back to ask what was going on. At first, the airport staff offered to help, but then some people who looked like soldiers came and told us to leave," said a Chinese passenger.

Footage from the reporter showed that the area outside the airport was almost deserted, with very few vehicles. Public transportation had been suspended early, and only police cars were parked on both sides of the road, with emergency staff signaling all civilian vehicles to leave immediately.

Dubai Airports confirmed that a concourse at Dubai International Airport later sustained minor damage in what it referred to as an “incident”. Emergency response teams were immediately deployed and were managing the situation in coordination with the relevant authorities. Aviation sources told Reuters news agency that one of the terminals had been damaged during an overnight Iranian attack.

The Dubai Media Office said that four staff members sustained injuries and received prompt medical attention.

CMG reporter helps evacuate Chinese nationals from Dubai airport