JD Finance launches JDDiscovery fintech service arm

JD Finance, the financial arm of China's e-commerce giant JD Group, announced the launch of JD Financial Cloud at its JDDiscovery conference on Nov 6.

The first provider of its "Fintech as a Service" model, JD Financial Cloud will leverage JD's big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence prowess.

The conference was co-organized by JD Finance and leading venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. It aimed to enhance cooperation and explore the infinite possibilities of AI to boost global intelligent financial development.

Cao Peng, vice-president of JD Finance and general-manager of its tech research and develop department, said the cloud-based service will empower financial institutions with enhanced precision marketing and risk management capabilities.

The cloud service will not only provide public and private clouds, but also offer intelligent risk control, intelligent investment advice and intelligent payment, among other services.

To date, JD Finance has served 360 million users and processes 200 terabytes of data per day.

Cao said that during the testing phase, JD Finance analyzed a massive amount of user tags based on online shopping, mobile usage, payment histories and credit risk. This offered insights that helped to increase response rates by 25 percent, while reducing customer acquisition costs by 20 percent.

To better evaluate credit risk, JD Finance applies face recognition technology, biological techniques, graph calculations and other AI technologies. This allows the company to build more than 30,000 risk control variables, 300 million user credit evaluations, 500 models and 5,000 risk strategies.

Cao said, "We have cooperated with more than 400 banks, 100 funds and 60 insurance companies, and continue to improve our technology to serve our existing partners and build new partnerships."

Liu Qiangdong, the founder and CEO of JD group said: "JD Finance aims to build up an ecosystem based on its capabilities in big data and AI."

JD's delivery robots ran on the campuses of Tsinghua University and Renmin University a year ago. The small driverless vehicles took parcels from a logistics center on campus to a location where students would pick them up, after receiving a text message.

Next month, JD will put that model of delivery into action across more than 100 universities in Beijing, according to Liu.

By Nov 5, JD's testing drones had flown for more than 170,000 hours. Its newest drones could fly as far as 240 kilometers.

"In the next three years, our heavy drones are expected to fly 500 to 1,000 kilometers and carry one or two tons of goods. We hope they can deliver 20-ton goods some time in the future," Liu said.

The first JDDiscovery contest also launched at the conference. The contest runs between Nov 6 and Dec 17 in both China and the United States. It has four test questions: log-in identification, store sales prediction, credit demand prediction and facial recognition of pigs.

The conference attracted tech experts from global leading tech companies, such as Microsoft, IBM, 360 and famous scholars from the Chinese Academy of Science, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Columbia University and Carnegie Mellon University. Financial giants also attended, including executives from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications and China UnionPay.