Joint projects

In January last year, WeBank, China's first digital bank, set up a fintech research center with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

A WeBank spokesman said the center's overall target is to generate economic value through intelligent solutions for digital banking and commerce.

"It aims to research fintech that delivers machine-generated personalized financial insights and services to the user," the spokesman said, adding that the five-year partnership would bring research scientists and engineers from both institutions to work on collaborative projects.

"We expect those talents to come up with a series of innovative fintech solutions, which will contribute to regional development," the spokesman said.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, WeBank is backed by Tencent and other local partners. It aims to promote financial inclusion by using a range of technologies.

Although WeBank does not have plans to operate outside China, a company spokesman said the large unbanked and underbanked population in Asia, especially in Southeast Asia, provides opportunities for fintech companies.

More than 2 billion people worldwide have no access to banking services, according to KPMG, citing data from the World Bank. About 73 percent of the 600 million people living in Southeast Asia do not have a bank account.

The WeBank spokesman said fintech companies can play at least three roles in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. They can be providers, building and supplying a new generation of information technology infrastructure for financial companies; ecosystem contributors, injecting new technologies and solutions; or service innovators, through collaboration with traditional financial institutions.