From Informal Finance to Internet Finance in China

Funk, Andrea S.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97253-4_4

From Informal Finance to Internet Finance in China

Andrea S. Funk²

Chapter
First Online: 02 February 2019

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

Abstract

As formal finance cannot meet financial demand and informal finance is not the most favoured institution to fill this gap, the Chinese government has started to promote internet finance or FinTech. The latter has rapidly evolved in China, and in fact has the potential to challenge both, informal and formal finance. In order to understand crowdfunding’s embeddedness in China’s FinTech sector, this chapter starts with an overview of formal and informal finance and proceeds with an analysis of FinTech evolution in China. In addition, it draws a concise picture of China’s internet industry. In particular, it first illustrates the ecosystem of China’s internet giants, exemplified by the businesses of Alibaba and Tencent. Secondly, it depicts China’s mobile internet market. Thirdly, it explains the success and challenges of China’s e-commerce market, and fourthly, it analyses China’s payments market. Eventually, China’s shift from informal to internet finance will become more plausible.

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Notes

1.
Linnane (2016, n.p).
2.
Walter and Howie (2012, p. 29).
3.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 267).
4.
“The State Council is the highest executive organ in the [Chinese] state administration. Under the State Council are ministries, commissions and bureaus. It is further represented through government authorities at the provincial and local levels.” (Cousin 2011, p. 271).
5.
Walter and Howie (2012, p. 219).
6.
See e.g. Hsu (2009, p. 8), Cousin (2011, p. 4).
7.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 267).
8.
Ibid.
9.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 268).
10.
Hsu (2009, p. 8).
11.
Cousin (2011, p. 4 ff).
12.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 268).
13.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 270).
14.
Ibid.
15.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 271).
16.
Martin (2012) defines “equitization” as “a process of transforming [state-owned banks] into joint-stock commercial banks” (Martin 2012, p. 12).
17.
“Alternatively, inviting in domestic private capital [would have been] financially viable, given China’s high savings ratio and the rapid development of the private sector in the 1990s. Nevertheless, liberalizing domestic private investment in the financial sector could be politically risky for the Communist Party since this meant that the regime could lose control of key financial resources. Thus, foreign investment in a supervised partnership with domestic institutions was instead put on the table.” (Bell and Feng 2013, p. 273)
18.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 274).
19.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 280). For further information on the Huijin, see Bell and Feng (2013, pp. 279–284).
20.
The PBOC’s loss in impact on the financial sector for instance can be seen from the fact that it lost the Huijin to the MOF. “[I]n September 2007, the MOF managed to convince the State Council to establish a sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation (CIC), under its control, and to merge Huijin into the CIC.”(Bell and Feng 2013, p. 287)
21.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 288).
22.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 266).
23.
Martin (2012, p. 11).
24.
“China Development Bank is reportedly to be equitized sometime in the near future, but plans for its initial public offering (IPO) have been on hold” (Martin 2012, p. 5). Yet, Bloomberg in 2015 announced the IPO of two of CDB’s subsidiaries in Hong Kong (Bloomberg 2015).
25.
Notably, in the CBRC 2011 Annual Report, the authorities counted “two policy banks and China Development Bank (CDB)” (CBRC 2011, p. 24), whereas the CBRC 2014 Report counted “three policy banks” (CBRC 2014, p. 23).
26.
Martin (2012, p. 5).
27.
Chapman and Marshall (2012, p. 55).
28.
CBRC (2009, p. 30), CBRC (2014, p. 23 ff).
29.
Martin (2012, p. 7).
30.
Martin (2012, p. 27 ff).
31.
Ibid.
32.
See Sects. 4.4.2.1 and 4.4.2.2.
33.
CBRC (2014, p. 23 ff).
34.
Lardy (1998, p. 3).
35.
For a detailed analysis of China’s enterprise reform see You (1998).
36.
Tsai (2009, p. 99).
37.
Heep (2014, p. 38).
38.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 269).
39.
Bell and Feng (2013, p. 267).
40.
Walter and Howie (2012, p. 33).
41.
Lardy (1998, p. 5).
42.
The World Bank (2016).
43.
Lardy (1998, p. 3).
44.
Lardy (2008), Heep (2014).
45.
Lardy (2008, p. 1 ff).
46.
Trading Economics (n.d.).
47.
Inflation.eu (n.d.).
48.
For more information on this financial repression see Lardy (2008) and Heep (2014, pp. 37–41).
49.
Western Zhou, i.e. Xi Zhou [西周], 1046–770 BC.
50.
Jiang (2009a, pp. 17–20).
51.
However, it is debatable whether China in fact is already a market economy or still an economy in transition.
52.
Hsu (2009, p. 6).
53.
Jiang (2009a, p. 35).
54.
Jiang (2009a, p. 20).
55.
Jiang (1996).
56.
Jiang and Ding (2004).
57.
Jiang (2000).
58.
Tsai (2002).
59.
Liao et al. (2003).
60.
As Hsu (2009, p. 6) in her citation only provides the Pinyin of the authors’ names and the English titles of the sources, and as she did not reply to my request via email, in some cases I could not identify the primary (Chinese) sources.
61.
Li (2009, p. 56).
62.
Own calculation based on National Bureau of Statistics of China (2007, p. 57).
63.
Hsu (2009, p. 7).
64.
Adams and Fitchett (1992b, p. 3).
65.
Tsai (2002), Jiang (2009a).
66.
Jiang (2009a, p. 14).
67.
Jiang (2009a, p. 18).
68.
Jiang (2009a, p. 34).
69.
CBRC (2014, p. 24).
70.
Liu (2003, p. 1).
71.
Liu (2003, p. 2).
72.
Liu (2003, p. 3).
73.
Wang (2013, pp. 25; 30).
74.
A clear categorisation of Chinese enterprises is provided by Fischer (2006).
75.
Wang [王思惟] (2015b, p. 304).
76.
Jiang (2009a, p. 33).
77.
Desjardins (2016, n.p).
78.
Ibid.
79.
Alibaba is China’s largest e-commerce provider.
80.
Arner et al. (2015, p. 20).
81.
Moon (2016, n.p).
82.
World Bank (n.d.).
83.
Duflos and Klapper (2015, n.p).
84.
Moon (2016, n.p).
85.
Wai (1992, p. 342 ff), Elliot et al. (2015).
86.
Chan (2016, n.p).
87.
Baidu is the Chinese pendant to the search engine Google.
88.
Tencent is a provider of games and social media.
89.
BAT by 2015 has become a popular acronym for the three internet service providers made up from the initials of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.
90.
The second rank is held by Lufax or Lu.com respectively, China’s second largest P2P platform, which is an associate of the Ping An Insurance Group.
91.
KPMG China (2016, pp. 10–12).
92.
See Sect. 2.5,“(1) finance and investment, (2) operations and risk management, (3) payments and infrastructure, (4) data security and monetization, […] (5) customer interface, […] [and (6)] the use of technology in regulation itself” (Arner et al. 2015, p. 18).
93.
Chan (2016). Thus, according to the categorisation by Arner et al. (2015), Chinese FinTech companies focus on category (3) and (1).
94.
“[I]nsurance, enterprise/software-as-a-service, financial services and consumer financing account for the remaining 20%.” Linnane (2016, n.p.).
95.
KPMG China (2016, p. 10).
96.
KPMG China (2016, p. 8).
97.
Arner et al. (2015, p. 19).
98.
越过长城, 走向世界. Wang [王珊] (2014a).
99.
China Education and Research Network[中国教育和科研计算机网] (2001).
100.
Pingdom.com (2010).
101.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, preface).
102.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 1).
103.
Internet Live Stats (n.d.).
104.
Internet World Stats (n.d.).
105.
So and Westland (2010, p. viii).
106.
Own calculation based on China Internet Network Information Center (2011) and China Internet Network Information Center (2015).
107.
By 2014, China’s internet users comprised to 72.5% of urban netizens. Although the government puts a lot of effort in establishing internet infrastructure in rural regions, the rural-urban gap in terms of internet penetration is widening (China Internet Network Information Center 2015, p. 31).
108.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 29).
109.
See Internet World Stats (n.d.).
110.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 32 ff).
111.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 37).
112.
Statista Inc. (2016c).
113.
Statista Inc. (2016f). Unfortunately, there are no numbers on German netizens between the age of 20 and 29, whose internet usage is probably higher than the one of the average German adolescent or teenager.
114.
“Digital native is a term coined by Mark Prensky in 2001 used to describe the generation of people who grew up in the digital age. Digital natives are comfortable with technology and computers at an early age and consider technology to be an integral and necessary part of their lives. Teenagers and children today are generally considered to be digital natives as they mainly communicate and learn via computers, SMS, and texting. The opposite of digital natives is digital immigrants—people who have had to adapt to the new language of technology” (Investopedia n.d.).
115.
So and Westland (2010, p. ix).
116.
So and Westland (2010, p. 121).
117.
Ibid.
118.
McKinsey Global Institute (2014, p. 6).
119.
UK’s internet, in 2013, economy generated 6.7% of its GDP, followed by South Korea (5.9%), Japan (5.6%), Sweden (5.0%) and China (4.4%) (Kwan n.d.).
120.
McKinsey Global Institute (2014, p. 13).
121.
This equals to USD 87.2 billion and EUR 79.9 billion as of 2016-01-28.
122.
Niko Partners (2015, n.p).
123.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP (2015, p. 27).
124.
Own calculation based on PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP (2015).
125.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 25 ff).
126.
Ibid.
127.
Liang and Lu (2010, p. 105).
128.
Tan et al. (1999, p. 44).
129.
Shao (2012, p. 46).
130.
Ibid.
131.
Ibid.
132.
Gov.cn (2011).
133.
English.Gov.cn (2015, n.p).
134.
The People’s Republic of China (2016, pp. 99–109).
135.
Liang and Lu (2010, p. 105).
136.
For more information on internet censorship in China see e.g. Becker (2011) or Shi-Kupfer (2015).
137.
Liang and Lu (2010, p. 107).
138.
Liang and Lu (2010, pp. 105–109).
139.
The People’s Republic of China (2016, p. 107).
140.
In the 13th Five-Year Plan, the idea of a social credibility system is elaborated. It aims at the citizens’ increased integrity and is based on data “relating to key areas such as government administrative integrity, commercial and business integrity, social integrity, and judicial credibility” (The People’s Republic of China 2016, p. 289). The idea is that authorities “will establish a mechanism for encouraging and rewarding those who act in good faith. […] and establish in every industry a blacklist of enterprises which lack credibility and a mechanism for having them exit the market” (The People’s Republic of China 2016, p. 290). This credit system is said to serve an easier and faster evaluation of the creditworthiness of Chinese individuals and companies, however, critics fear that the individual scores could be misused in terms of totalitarian control.
141.
In January 2017, the Chinese government announced that all unauthorised VPNs henceforth are declared illegal (Ye 2017).
142.
See e.g. So and Westland (2010, p. v), Tse (2015).
143.
Tse (2015, p. 191).
144.
Fischer (2014, p. 492).
145.
Congressional-Executive Commission on China (2015).
146.
Xiaomi [小米] is a leading Chinese mobile phone producer.
147.
Tse (2015, p. 81).
148.
Tse (2015, p. 80).
149.
Interview with Sean (founder of the Chinese CFP I fund u), 2015-04-27.
150.
Tse (2015, p. 186).
151.
JD.com is China’s number four, see Table 4.5.
152.
Rabkin (2011).
153.
Backaler (2014, pp. 9–28). The author mentions four reasons why Chinese corporates emerge into horizontally new businesses: uninformed opportunism, competition-driven diversification, the guanxi effect (i.e. the acquisition of a horizontal business is recommended to them), and market driven diversification.
154.
Harford (2011).
155.
Hendrichs (2015).
156.
Lajoie and Shearman (n.d., n.p).
157.
Clark (2016, p. 5).
158.
Alibaba Group (n.d.(a).
159.
I.e. market.
160.
So and Westland (2010, p. 79 ff).
161.
So and Westland (2010, pp. 79–92).
162.
Taobao [淘宝] literally means bargaining for treasure. “Just as Google is synonymous with searching online, in China to “tao” something is shorthand for searching for a product online” (Clark 2016, p. 4).
163.
Alibaba Group (n.d.(b).
164.
In fact, Ma feared that ebay could eventually also approach the B2B market (So and Westland 2010).
165.
According to So and Westland (2010, p. 98), “what really caused eBay to lose its dominance in China was its decision to move its technology platform from China to America.”
166.
So and Westland (2010, p. 100).
167.
Clark (2016, p. 15).
168.
Clark (2016, p. 5).
169.
In Chinese AliPay it is called Zhifubao [支付宝], which literally means “paying for a treasure”.
170.
Tse (2015, p. 35 ff).
171.
Its Chinese name is mayi jin fu [蚂蚁金服], which can be translated as “ant money service” (Alibaba Group (n.d.(b)).
172.
Tse (2015, p. 39).
173.
Ibid.
174.
Presumably, Yu’e Bao can offer far higher interest rates as it is first of all an online based fund without costs incurred by physical branches. Secondly, investments are likely to be steered by a computer and algorithms, instead of by human beings, which further saves costs.
175.
Cheng (2014, n.p).
176.
Li (2015b, n.p).
177.
Alibaba’s listing on the Wall Street in 2014 surpassed all expectations and was the highest IPO in history then. In total, Alibaba collected USD 25 billion with a share price of USD 68. Yet, within the first day of trading, Alibaba’s shares exceeded the price of USD 92 (Spiegel Online 2014).
178.
Ju huasuan [聚划算], which can be translated as “collective calculating”.
179.
According to Groupon’s website, the platform is “a global leader of local commerce” offering discounts for offline products and services (Groupon 2016).
180.
Alibaba holds assets in the company AutoNavi (Alibaba Group n.p).
181.
Alibaba Group has acquired about 60% in the movie and television producer ChinaVision (Alibaba Group n.p).
182.
Alibaba Group has fully acquired the company UCWeb (Alibaba Group n.p).
183.
Alibaba has established a joint venture with Intime Retail Group in order to expand its online-to-offline (O2O) business in China (Alibaba Group n.p).
184.
Sina Weibo or Xinlang weibo [新浪微博] is China’s most popular microblog website, owned by Sina Corporation.
185.
“Youku Tudou [优酷土豆] is a leading online video site [comparable to YouTube], formed by the March 2012 merger of formally rancorous rivals Youku and Tudou Holdings.” Lajoie and Shearman (n.d.).
186.
Lajoie and Shearman (n.d.).
187.
Helft (2014, n.p).
188.
Tse (2015, p. 40).
189.
Tse (2015, p. 39).
190.
Tencent (n.d., n.p).
191.
Tencent (n.d., n.p).
192.
So and Westland (2010, p. 116 ff).
193.
Tse (2015, p. 86).
194.
Baidu’s revenues as of 2012 comprised of 100% from advertising (The Economist 2013).
195.
Facebook’s revenues as of 2012 comprised of about 85% from advertising and of about 15% from e-commerce (The Economist 2013).
196.
Google’s revenues as of 2012 comprised of about 88% from advertising and of about 12% from e-commerce (The Economist 2013).
197.
The Economist (2013, n.p).
198.
So and Westland (2010, p. 112).
199.
Business Wire (2014, n.p).
200.
The Economist (2013, n.p).
201.
So and Westland (2010, p. 118).
202.
In Chinese, WeChat is called Weixin [微信], which can be translated as micro letters.
203.
Business Insider (2016).
204.
Wan (2015a).
205.
Chan (2016, n.p).
206.
QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes which, in contrast to ordinary bar codes, contain horizontal as well as vertical information (Hartz 2013).
207.
Chan (2016, n.p).
208.
Ibid.
209.
Own experience.
210.
Tencent (n.d., n.p).
211.
In September 2011, the Wall Street Journal described JD.com as “The Biggest IPO You Haven’t Heard of” (Chao and Burkitt 2011, n.p). Indeed, few people outside China have heard about Jingdong, China’s second largest online retailer, though within China, the company is a respectable player.
212.
As Alibaba’s major competitor, Jingdong is likely to also profit from Tencent’s social media prominence.
213.
Tse (2015, p. 135).
214.
Lajoie and Shearman (n.d., n.p).
215.
Tse (2015, p. 139).
216.
Tse (2015, p. 191).
217.
Tse (2015, p. 83 ff).
218.
Own calculation based on GSM Association (2015, p. 3).
219.
China Internet Network Information Center (2011, 2015).
220.
Statista Inc. (n.d.).
221.
According to China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 26), 64.1% of Chinese new netizens exclusively access the internet via their mobile phones.
222.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 28).
223.
GSM Association (2015, p. 2).
224.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 43 ff).
225.
O2O i.e. online-to-offline commerce, which will be further elaborated in Sect. 4.4.4.
226.
China Internet Network Information Center (2015, p. 42).
227.
Ibid.
228.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, made this statement during a keynote speech at the 16th Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference (PTL Group 2013).
229.
This index is based on the size of the online market, the consumer behaviour, the market’s growth potential and the market’s infrastructure.
230.
Kearney (2015).
231.
Statista Inc (2016a). By contrast, the US e-commerce market generated EUR 265 billion in 2015 (Statista Inc. 2016b).
232.
Own calculation based on Kearney (2011, p. 2).
233.
Gov.cn (2011).
234.
Li & Fung Research Center (2016, p. 46 ff).
235.
Ibid.
236.
Tse (2015, p. 73).
237.
China Internet Watch (2015f).
238.
Ecommerce News (2015b).
239.
Kuo (2016).
240.
This figure equals to USD 4564.5 or EUR 4270.9 as of 18th January 2017.
241.
This figure equals to USD 1671.2 or EUR 1563.7 as of 18th January 2017.
242.
Own calculation based on National Bureau of Statistics of China (2006), and National Bureau of Statistics of China (2016).
243.
Clark (2016, p. 8 ff).
244.
Lee (2014).
245.
Wei (2013).
246.
Clark (2016, p. 9).
247.
China Internet Watch (2015g).
248.
PTL Group (2013, n.p).
249.
Kearney (2016, p. 3).
250.
KPMG (2014, p. 2).
251.
GO-Globe (2013).
252.
Internet World (2016).
253.
Innovation is Everywhere (n.d.).
254.
Ecommerce News (2015a).
255.
iResearch (2016e).
256.
Ibid.
257.
In Chinese tianmao 天猫, which literally means “sky cat”.
258.
Wan (2015b).
259.
Wan (2015b), KPMG (2014, p. 3).
260.
China Internet Watch (2015e).
261.
3C stands for computer, communications, and consumer electronics.
262.
KPMG (2014, p. 3), referring to Steven Millward. The primary source unfortunately was not available any longer.
263.
China Internet Watch (2014).
264.
China Internet Watch (2015b).
265.
China Retail News (2015).
266.
Hong baos (红包) literally mean red envelopes, which Chinese exchange during Chinese New Year or as a gift on other occasions. The envelope commonly contains some money, and the exchange of hong bao between family members and friends has a long tradition in China. China’s internet companies have transformed this common ritual and invented the virtual hong bao. Although, Sina Weibo and AliPay have offered digital hong baos much earlier than Tencent or Jingdong, virtual hong baos only have become very popular since their integration in WeChat (Dong 2014).
267.
China Internet Watch (2014).
268.
According to Ho (1976, p. 883), face is “the respectability and/or deference that a person can claim for him/herself from others, by virtue of the relative position he occupies in the social network and the degree to which he is judged to have functioned adequately in the position as well as acceptably in his social conduct.”
269.
Group buying is Tuan gou [团购] in Chinese.
270.
China Internet Watch (2014).
271.
Wang (2015a).
272.
Of these 121 warehouses 96 ones were located in the US, four in India, nine in Germany and twelve in China (Ahmed 2015).
273.
Suning [苏宁] is a Chinese retailer for electrical appliances.
274.
Wei (2013, n.p).
275.
Whereas Tencent hardly builds on advertising (see Sect. 4.4.2.2), China’s other e-commerce companies predominantly derive their revenues from advertisement.
276.
Wei (2013, n.p).
277.
Clark (2016, p. 6).
278.
China Internet Watch (2015g), Centre for Retail Research (n.d.).
279.
In 2014, overall retail sales were at USD 4.23 trillion in China and at USD 4.79 trillion in the US (own calculation based on China Internet Watch (2015k) and eMarketer Inc (2015)).
280.
Li & Fung Research Center (2016, p. 13).
281.
KPMG (2014, p. 4).
282.
For instance, Twitter in summer 2015 introduced a so-called buy button; users could offer their products via Twitter and interested people could easily buy these within the social medium. However, 1 year later, Twitter declared the project as failed (Ptoch 2016).
283.
Henkel (2015, n.p).
284.
In China, social media reached a score of 3.65, whilst the traditional shopping experience scored 4.04, based on a scale from 1=not at all important to 5=extremely important (Capgemini 2014, p. 18).
285.
In Germany, social media scored 2.19, whilst the traditional store experience stood at 4.08 (Capgemini 2014, p. 18).
286.
GO-Globe (2013, n.p).
287.
Ibid.
288.
China Internet Watch (2015i).
289.
Innovation is Everywhere (n.d.).
290.
China Internet Watch (2015h).
291.
The date of 11th November comprises of four 1s, standing for singles.
292.
dpa (2015), Berke (2015).
293.
Internet World (2016).
294.
Innovation is Everywhere (n.d., n.p).
295.
Rampell (2010, n.p).
296.
Uber is an online mediation company for private car transportation. It connects private people with cars willing to drive other private people who seek transportation. The latter order and pay online, whilst the actual service is offline. (Own explanation.)
297.
QRC (n.d.).
298.
Morris (2015).
299.
Roselli (2015).
300.
Advertising Age (2014).
301.
Ibid.
302.
199IT.com (2014).
303.
Ibid.
304.
Innovation is Everywhere (n.d., n.p).
305.
Merz (2013).
306.
Rampell (2010, n.p).
307.
Innovation is Everywhere (n.d.).
308.
WalktheChat (n.d., n.p).
309.
Hendrichs (2015).
310.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (2013, p. 1).
311.
This is based on the exchange rate as of 13th December 2015.
312.
E.g. Peter Bofinger (Reiermann 2015).
313.
Griffiths (2015, n.p).
314.
Ibid.
315.
Capgemini Consulting and Royal Bank of Scotland (2015, p. 6).
316.
Capgemini Consulting and Royal Bank of Scotland (2015, p. 3).
317.
Capgemini Consulting and Royal Bank of Scotland (2015, p. 9).
318.
iResearch (2015).
319.
In terms of the sum of transactions, third-party payment providers in 2015 already challenged banks and their payment services. China Internet Watch refers to data released by the PBOC, which for Q2 2015 assessed a sum of 20.66 bn transactions by non-bank agencies. These transactions accumulated a total volume of USD 1.73 tn (China Internet Watch 2015c). These figures suggest that transactions by third-party payment providers, in contrast to transactions settled via banks, are comparably of low volume. On the other hand, the high frequency of transactions tells that Chinese are integrating third-party payments in their daily lives. Once they have experienced the convenience and safety of such services, they are likely to apply non-bank payments also for transactions of higher amounts.
320.
iResearch (2016b).
321.
iResearch (2016c).
322.
Griffiths (2015).
323.
China Union Pay is a bank card association founded in 2002, which until recently was the only entity in China to issue credit cards and settle bank card transactions (China Internet Watch 2013).
324.
China Internet Watch (2015d).
325.
Transact24 (n.d.).
326.
See e.g. Wildau (2014), Wong (2015); Alibaba’s bank is called MyBank; Tencent’s bank is called WeBank. The latter reminds of Tencent’s currently most valuable asset, WeChat.
327.
Examples of Western payment providers are Visa, which since 2015 has provided a V.me Wallet (Zachariae 2015). Another example is Apple, which in 2014 launched Apple Pay (Swider 2016). A further example is PayPal.
328.
China Internet Watch (2015d).
329.
China Internet Watch (2013).
330.
Griffiths (2015, n.p).
331.
Ibid.
332.
Interview with Sean, 2015-04-27.
333.
Griffiths (2015, n.p).
334.
Didi Kuaidi [滴滴快的] was founded in 2015, resulting from a merger of Didi Dache [滴滴打车] (partly owned by Tencent) and Kuaidi Dache [快的打车] (financed by Alibaba). This cooperation proved to be a success as in August 2016, Didi Kuaidi acquired Uber’s China business (Kharpal 2016).
335.
Huang (n.d.).
336.
PYMNTS (2015, n.p).
337.
Ibid.
338.
Young (2016, n.p).
339.
CCTV (2016, n.p.) “The problem is that when money is moved from [a] WeChat wallet to [a] bank card, the bank charges WeChat for the transfer. Tencent used to bear that cost, but the expenses are adding up.”
340.
Lets Talk Payments (2013, n.p).
341.
Ibid.
342.
Griffiths (2015, n.p).
343.
Ecommerce News (2015c).
344.
Griffiths (2015, n.p).

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University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
Andrea S. Funk

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Funk, A.S. (2019). From Informal Finance to Internet Finance in China. In: Crowdfunding in China. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97253-4_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97253-4_4
Published: 02 February 2019
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