Chinese banks shun in-house tech as they turn to Alibaba and Tencent for help

Nearly all mid-sized and commercial banks have tied up with the three tech titans.

CNBC reports that nearly all mid-sized and commercial Chinese banks have enlisted the assistance of tech giants Alibaba, Tecent and Baidu to digitise their operations in recognition of their superior tech expertise and wealth of customer data.

Also read: China's payment giants try to conquer Asia's banking scene

In recent months, Ant Financial has tied up with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Huaxia Bank and China Everbright Bank to assist in their digital transformation programmes. 

The move is in sharp contrast with the dedicated effort made by US banks to roll out technology from within with J.P. Morgan set to roll out free trading services for its mobile and online user base.

Mobile payment apps in China already have much of the data that US banks are still trying to gather as mobile has since become the primary means of daily payment in the country.

Also read: Chinese fintechs are tapping on Asia's unbanked

In fact, data from app developer services Aurora Mobile notes that Alipay enjoy 51% mobile phone penetration compared to the mere 7 to 11% penetration of Chinese banking apps. Alipay and WeChat Pay also handled a whopping $5.9t in Mainland spending in Q4, according to Bloomberg data. 

Here’s more from CNBC:  

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