Chinese investment in FinTech hotting-up in Cambridge

File photo of Cambridge University [Photo: youctrip.com]

A Chinese FinTech investment in Cambridge, UK, has lead to three exciting developments.

That's according to specialist publication Business Weekly, who report that Chinese FinTech specialist BBD has big plans for its investment in Cambridge.

Apparently. the three developments in Cambridge are:

1) Collaborations between Cambridge and Zhejiang Academy of Internet Finance.

2) The launch of a new Global Crowdfunding Index with local partner Crowdsurfer.

3) Help for other Chinese investors, particularly in the financial industries, to make contacts and relationships in Cambridge.

FinTech, short for financial technology, is a fast-growing area of start-up development, based on using software to provide financial services.

The technology has the potential to revolutionise banking, to the extent that some analysts are comparing the threat to established banks to the battle between Blockbusters and Netflix, or Yellow Pages and Google.

The use of 'blockchain' software in FinTech could ultimately enable much more efficient and secure transactions directly between consumers, bypassing the need for traditional banks altogether.

As we've reported extensively over the last few months, both the United Kingdom and China have been hailed as future homes of the technology. In the wake of Brexit, however, we revealed that investment in the sector in the UK had crumbled due to uncertainty over Brexit.

That story was based on the fact that investment in FinTech in the UK fell by roughly a third in 2016, whereas it increased by 84 percent in China.

Now, however, it seems more likely than ever that cooperation between China and the UK might see both countries lead the world into this new financial world together.