Chinese and Asia-Pacific companies made a strong showing in the top 10 of the 2019 Fintech100 report from KPMG International’s global Fintech practice and fintech investment firm H2 Ventures.

As in 2018, this year’s list showed payments and transaction companies dominating, representing 26 of the ranked companies. This was followed by wealth companies (20), insurance companies (17) and lending companies (15).

China had three companies in the top 10 this year, with a total of seven companies in the ‘Top 50’ and three in the ‘Emerging 50’.

Two India-based companies also featured in the top 10, as did two companies from the US and one from the UK (see the complete top 10 ranking below).

Ian Pollari, Global Co-leader for KPMG’s Fintech practice and a partner with KPMG Australia said: “Globally, we have seen a rise in companies from across Asia-Pacific (including China) which represent the top six, and seven of the top 10 fintech companies in 2019, with China again securing the most top-ten positions.

“In 2019, we have also seen the emergence of India as a fintech force, taking two of the top positions and with seven companies in this year’s list in total,” he added.

Chris Wang, Partner, Head of Fintech, KPMG China, said: “As fintech development continues to go strong in China, we are seeing some changes in China’s fintech landscape. Aligned with trends we observe globally, we see an increasing number of wealth, insurance and multi-sector companies in China on the list, which indicates that technologies and innovations have spread into more financial services sectors. Also, we can see an increase in the number of fintech companies from Hong Kong on the list following a series of efforts by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to facilitate the development of the fintech ecosystem in Hong Kong. With the competitive advantages of leading fintech companies from Shenzhen and increasing cooperation and interactions among fintech companies in the region, the Greater Bay Area is becoming an important fintech hub in China and undoubtedly has key role to play in the continuous transformation of financial services.”

Overall, the Asia-Pacific region dominated the top 10 for another year with five companies in the ranking. Ant Financial (China) ranked first for the second year running, followed by Grab (Singapore) and JD Digits (China). Coming in fourth was Indonesia-based GoJek. China-based Du Xiaoman Financial took sixth.

Avril Rae, Director, Head of Fintech, Hong Kong, KPMG China, noted: “The annual Fintech 100 champions innovation and innovators. Having led the rankings for the past three years and again securing the most top ten positions on the List in 2019, we see that China remains strong in this field. Additionally, we see a significant increase in venture capital backing of fintech companies; leading fintech players are attracting a greater share of capital from significant venture investors in fintech companies and strategic investors.”

2019 Fintech100 – Top 10:

1. Ant Financial (China) is the world’s largest third-party payments platform.
2. Grab (Singapore) uses data and technology to improve everything from transportation to payments across a region of more than 620 million people.
3. JD Digits (China) is a digital technology company, dedicated to providing digital, online and offline all-scenario services around three key points: data, user and connectivity. It uses emerging technologies such as big data, AI, cloud computing, blockchain and IoT.
4. GoJek (Indonesia) a multi-services platform with more than 20 services including Gopay, Gobills, Gopoints, Paylater, and Gopulsa serving millions of users in Southeast Asia.
5. Paytm (India) is the largest digital payments company in India with more than 380 million registered users and 12 million merchants on-board its Paytm platform.
6. Du Xiaoman Financial (China) provides short-term loan and investment services.
7. Compass (United States) is a real estate technology company with a powerful end-to-end platform that supports the entire buying and selling workflow.
8. Ola (India) off the back of its ridesharing user base Ola Money is making payments easier and simpler.
9. Opendoor (United States) makes it possible to receive an offer on a home in just a few clicks, and sell in a matter of days, removing the headaches, uncertainties, and risks from the transaction.
10. Oaknorth (United Kingdom) specializes in small-and-medium-enterprise lending using its proprietary data and technology platform.

Many fintechs are also benefiting from being at the forefront of several key trends, the report found.

Globalization

According to market analysis, an increasing number of fintechs are rapidly globalizing across multiple jurisdictions, such as Australia’s AfterPay Touch, Brazil-based Nubank, Germany-based Kreditech Holdings, and Spain’s Bnext.

Monoline to mainstream

Early fintech innovators with monoline product propositions are now diversifying to fulfil a greater set of mainstream customer needs.

Open banking

A number of companies, such as China’s Ant Financial and India’s Open, are benefiting from the global policy shift to open banking, which is driving competition and allowing fintechs to access customer banking data to create faster, more personalized and innovative services.

SOURCE KPMG