Survey: Majority of Chinese bankers will invest more in tech

Chinese bankers are paying closer attention to the integration of technologies and financial services, and the majority of them will increase investments in the deployment of information technologies, according to a recent survey.

Among various financial technologies, big data received the most attention -- more than 76 percent – from all the bankers surveyed.

This type of technology is mainly used in marketing (64.6 percent) and risk management (59.2 percent), said the survey results announced by the China Banking Association and the accounting and auditing firm PwC, also known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, on Friday.

Mobile internet technology is the most widely used technology, with nearly 60 percent of the bankers saying their banks have already developed or are developing financial products based on mobile internet technology.

Artificial intelligence is also of interest to more than 38 percent of the bankers, who believe the technology can be applied to different business areas including smart risk control, smart automated teller machines and robotic advisors, according to the survey.

“In recent years, the disruption effect of technologies to the banking sector has grown stronger. As a result, 59.1 percent of Chinese bankers are paying close attention to technologies, up from 41.4 percent in 2015 and 44.7 percent in 2016,” said Richard Zhu, PwC China north finance services leader.

“Bankers have high hopes for the development of financial technologies, holding fast to the belief that challenges and opportunities coexist in the future of technologies,” Zhu said.

With the rapid development of financial technologies, the survey found that an increasing number of bankers have raised their expectations for information technology construction at their own banks.

Nearly 46 percent of the bankers said they will accelerate construction of their banks’ information systems and largely increase investments in this area during the next three years.

The survey, covering 31 provinces and autonomous regions, received 1,920 valid questionnaires from various banking institutions.