中國金融科技公司籌資總額首超美國

The Chinese tech centres of Shenzhen and Hangzhou have given Silicon Valley a run for its money for the first time.

中國的科技中心深圳和杭州首次在籌資總額上超過硅谷。

Financial technology companies in Asia raised $9.6bn during the first seven months of the year, more than double the $4.6bn raised by similar companies in North America, according to data from Accenture.

根據埃森哲(Accenture)的數據，今年頭7個月亞洲金融科技公司籌得96億美元，比北美同類公司籌集的46億美元高出一倍以上。

The caPital raising, of which more than 90 per cent was done by Chinese companies, was also twice as much as that raised in Asia during all of 2015 by “fintech” groups — a catch-all term that has come to include everything from multibillion-dollar online investment platforms to mobile applications offering discounted dining options.

這96億美元有90%以上是由中國企業籌到的，而這一總額也達到了2015年全年亞洲“金融科技”(fintech)集團籌款的兩倍。“金融科技”是一個包羅萬象的術語，涵蓋幾十億美元的在線投資平臺，以及提供打折餐飲選擇的移動應用。

In 2010, fintech fundraising in North America was 15 times bigger than in Asia. Last year it peaked at $14.8bn, more than three times that in Asia. North American funding activity for the sector this year, however, was projected to halve on last year, according to Accenture.

2010年，金融科技公司在北美籌得的資金是亞洲的15倍以上，去年達到148億美元的高峯，是亞洲的3倍多。但根據埃森哲的數據，今年北美金融科技公司籌資活動預計比去年減半。

That decline was accompanied by troubles at San Francisco-based Lending Club, a pioneer in the US fintech industry that suffered a scandal involving mis-sold loans earlier this year followed by a collapse in its stock price.

伴隨這一下降的是，總部位於舊金山的Lending Club陷入種種麻煩，這家美國金融科技先驅在今年早些時候捲入不當銷售貸款醜聞，隨後股價暴跌。

The exuberance in China has led to concerns over whether the country’s fintech sector was overheating. Online financial services and peer-to-peer lenders in China have garnered a mixed reputation. Many have collapsed, while some have made off with billions of dollars in client cash.

中國的繁榮引發了對其金融科技行業是否過熱的擔憂。中國在線金融服務和個人對個人(P2P)貸款的名聲有好有壞。許多企業都垮臺了，還有一些捲走了客戶數十億美元現金。

“There were so many of these companies suddenly doing online finance last year,” said Alex Ren, president of Ping An Group. “It’s like the emperor’s new clothes; the vast majority of these will not be able to go on.”

平安集團(Ping An Group)總經理任匯川(Alex Ren)表示：“去年突然冒出這麼多公司在做互聯網金融。就像皇帝的新衣，其中絕大多數將會撐不下去。”

Chinese companies have not picked up the global investors that have grown tepid on Silicon Valley.

全球投資者對硅谷越來越冷淡，但中國企業尚未獲得他們的追捧。

Instead, the swell in investments in China was driven largely by state-backed investments into a few of the country’s largest internet and finance companies.

相反，中國投資膨脹的主要驅動力，是幾家國內最大的互聯網和金融公司獲得國家支持的投資。

Hangzhou-based Ant Financial, the financial services affiliate of Alibaba Group, which operates China’s biggest ecommerce platform, raised $4.5bn in April in what was the world’s largest round of fundraising for an internet company.

經營着中國最大電子商務平臺的阿里巴巴集團(Alibaba Group)的金融服務子公司、位於杭州的螞蟻金服(Ant Financial)，今年4月籌得45億美元，這是全球互聯網公司籌到的最大一輪資金。