China’s internet finance revolution

Internet finance may be a new development in China but its impact is now everywhere. Peking University has developed an index which measures the growth and structure of internet finance across China. It records that the industry grew almost four times over the year to December 2015 and, on one measure, the market was then valued at US$1.8 trillion (RMB12.4 trillion). According to McKinsey, the internet economy is estimated to account for 7 per cent of GDP in China, compared with 4 to 5 per cent in the United States, Germany or Japan.