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Alipay and WeChat May Have Grown Too Big to Fail
Article

Alipay and WeChat May Have Grown Too Big to Fail

Caixin, 2018

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Editorial Rating

7

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  • Overview

Recommendation

In 2008, the invisible hand of the free market delivered a mighty slap to the world economy. Since the financial crisis, regulators have been trying to keep their countries’ biggest financial firms from getting “too big to fail,” which means greater scrutiny on financial products and the behemoths that run them. China is no exception. The country’s biggest mobile payment players have become a dangerously integral part of China’s financial infrastructure. Readers with an interest in China’s financial regulatory bodies or institutions that might be too big to fail will appreciate Caixin’s insightful article.

Take-Aways

  • Together, Ant Financial Service’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay control 90% of China’s mobile payment market.
  • The two companies boast more users than China’s largest banks.
  • As such, the Chinese government recognizes the two firms as systemically important financial institutions – not just domestically but globally. 

About the Authors

Zhang Yuzhe and Lin Jinbing write for Beijing-based Caixin.