Hello Fintech friends,

Welcome back to the This Month in Fintech - China Newsletter!

February was a month of ups and downs for the industry that included significant expansion plans, offset by new regulatory measures. As always, we're here to keep you informed on all the latest news and trends happening in China's fintech world. So sit back, and let's dive into this month's highlights.

Yours,

Ning

News

• Ant Group’s quarterly net profit dropped by 82.7% (Q3, 2022) following the regulatory clampdowns

• NBA partners with Ant Group to launch NFTs in China
• India plans to ban 138 betting apps and 94 lending apps with links to China due to security concerns

• Chinese consumer credit solutions fintech Qudian is reported to have regained compliance with NYSE minimum price requirement
• Airwallex appointed Justin Yek from Morgan Stanley as head of strategic finance and corporate development, hinting at its expansion ambition

Venture Financing

• Ant Group in talks to further reduce its stake in Paytm, but Paytm claimed to be unaware of this move
• Online loan facilitator Lufax, which is 41% owned by Ping An, is seeking dual listing in HongKong
• Binance acquires majority stake in GOPAX, a South Korean crypto exchange

Product & Partnership Launches

• Chinese fintech firm IceKredit gears up for SEA expansion
• Payment solutions provider epay partnered with Alipay to provide cross-border mobile payment and marketing solutions to its merchants in Australia
• South Korea’s Kakao Pay is expanding in China from March to prepare for the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games
• Tencent’s WeChat expands to Singapore with new partnerships with local apps such as Grab. Tencent’s move to Singapore is largely due to Chinese tourists and the immigration trend
• Fintiv partnered with Chinese payment service provider Geoswift to enable digital remittance to Asia
• Binance launched an international mobile top-up service, allowing users to pay for mobile usage with cryptocurrency

Interesting Read

• How Ant Group fell into fintech’s middle income trap? By Robyn Mak from Reuters (Related reading: Reports show that Chinese consumers are spending and borrowing less due to the economic uncertainties)