 29-Mar-18, China Focus

Over a millennium ago, China became one of the first countries to develop a paper currency. It's ironic then that it might become the first to go cashless. Spend a day in Beijing or Shanghai and the extent to which digital payment has taken over becomes apparent. The youngest generation of Chinese conusmers leave the house without cash, without even their wallets. 

Image: AP

Whether shopping online or buying in store, ordering takeaway or eating in restaurants, booking cinema tickets or checking out bikes from a cycle share scheme, all they need to pay is their phone. 

As late as 2010, digital transactions accounted for only 3.5 percent of retail consumption in China. By 2015, 17 precent of all transactions were digital. Annual transactions through mobile phones alone hit just under USD7.8 tn in the third quarter of 2017 - 70x America's USD112 bn market.

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 Financial Services insights