China is taking the lead in global financial technology innovation, and more international collaboration is expected to empower business growth and promote fintech inclusion to benefit the world, experts said recently in Shanghai.

Organizers of the Singapore Fin-Tech Festival and Hong Kong FinTech Week, two of the world's top fintech galas that are celebrating their 10th anniversaries this year, gathered for the first time at the 2025 Inclusion Conference on the Bund, which ran from Sept 10-13 in Shanghai.

As technology constantly drives fintech innovation and boosts international collaboration, both organizers agreed that China, as a global leader of fintech innovation, can positively contribute to the global fintech ecosystem, connecting more people in an inclusive manner.

King Leung, global head of financial services, fintech and sustainability at InvestHK, organizer of Hong Kong FinTech Week, said that as Shanghai is continuously building itself into an international financial center, there have been many outstanding fintech companies and institutions coming from the city, making remarkable achievements in business scale and services.

However, many parts of the world still know little about China's development in fintech, digitalization, artificial intelligence and advanced technological applications. Given that Hong Kong — as a global financial center — features a mature, open and very international market that welcomes financial innovation, Leung hopes to help bridge Shanghai and Hong Kong and connect China with the global fintech sector.

"Many top financial and investment institutions in Hong Kong are expecting to learn from the Chinese mainland to empower business transformation and efficiency. We also hope to help Chinese mainland tech companies showcase their technological advances and expand their businesses globally through the gateway of Hong Kong," said Leung.

Sopnendu Mohanty, group CEO of Global Finance & Technology Network, organizer of the Singapore FinTech Festival, is also expecting China's contribution to the global fintech market to be considerable. Mohanty said China's fintech ecosystem is already deeply connected to Asian fintech systems, and more international collaboration should take place.

"To me, China's biggest single contribution to the world of finance is the 'super app' designed to solve a wide range of things such as payments, money, market funds and unsecured loans … China has got a lot of things to contribute to the global market in terms of proved technology ideas, business models and operating efficiency," said Mohanty.

Over the past decade, he observed that the world of finance has been actively using technology to reduce costs, make financing inclusive and bring in new entrepreneurs to create new jobs and ideas.

In Shanghai, Mohanty was deeply impressed by the speed of development and strong entrepreneurial spirit in the fintech sector. During the 2025 Inclusion Conference on the Bund, he was struck by the large volume of technologies showcased on "inclusion", saying that it brings the larger community together onsite, including families with children, young people and especially senior citizens.