Chinese companies accounted for almost half of all fintech investments globally last year, according to a report by consulting firm Accenture.

Global investment in financial technology (fintech) companies more than doubled to $55.3 billion in 2018, with China making up $25.5 billion in transactions. 

«Even with the current volatility in global markets and ongoing macroeconomic concerns, investment in the fintech sector remains strong,» said Richard Lumb, group chief executive for financial services at Accenture. Overall, the number of transactions worldwide increased 19 per cent to 3,251 last year, according to Accenture's media statement.

«The demand for fintech innovations by banks and other financial services companies continues to grow as they face regulatory and capital pressure; competition spurred by Open Banking from new entrants, including Big Tech and neo-banks; and new and evolving security threats.»

Surge Despite U.S.-China Trade Tensions

Despite the fact that U.S. authorities have raised their scrutiny of foreign-backed investments and pulled the plug on some Chinese-backed deals, the value of deals in China increased by ninefold to $25.5 billion — almost as much as the $26.7 billion from all fintech investments globally in 2017.

More than half of China’s fintech investment came from the record $14 billion funding round in May of Ant Financial, which manages the world’s largest money market fund. The operator of Alipay and an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding raised the monies a few months after U.S. regulators blocked a $1.2 billion deal to acquire Moneygram International.

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The single Ant Financial fundraising catapulated the category «wealth and asset management startups» to lead position, accounting for 30 percent of total investments globally. Payment startups accounted for 23 percent of the fintech financing, and those in lending accounted for 19 percent.
 
After Ant Financial, the next-largest fundraiser was China’s Du Xiaoman Financial — spun off from Chinese search engine giant Baidu in April — which raised $4.3 billion in two separate transactions. Another large transaction in China included the $1.3 billion that wealth management platform Lufax raised in December after putting off plans for a Hong Kong IPO.