AI is injecting new life into an expanding array of industries and scenarios, and the fintech sector is no exception. If 'Internet + Finance' represents a surface-level transformation of the financial industry, then the advent of the 'AI + Finance' era signals a groundbreaking evolution from within. For players aiming to leave their mark in this new cycle, harnessing the new dividends of the AI era not only navigates through the challenges of the internet finance era but also propels their development into a new phase.

It's natural for internet giants like Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu to focus heavily on this domain. Their established AI layouts and experience in AI applications make it a logical progression for them to integrate AI with fintech. Besides these internet players, traditional financial institutions are also paying close attention. While they may lack the traits of internet companies, their inherent understanding of fintech compensates for their technological shortcomings.

It is almost certain that the AI era will usher in profound changes to fintech. In this era, fintech will transcend the mere categories of 'finance' and 'technology' to emerge as a distinct entity. One significant reason for this is the evolution of fintech in the AI era. So, what kind of evolution will the AI era of fintech bring? Based on my understanding, it encompasses the following aspects.

Fintech Can Deeply Empower the Real Economy

People have always sought ways to empower the real economy through fintech and achieve deep integration with it, be it in the traditional financial era or the internet finance era. However, despite relentless efforts, players seem to have never found the right path to return to and empower the real economy. Ultimately, one crucial reason is that players have not identified the connection point between fintech and the real economy, leading to a superficial relationship between the two.

With the advent of the AI era, especially as AI begins to profoundly influence and transform both the financial industry and the real economy, these two entities, previously unable to find a connection point, can now achieve deep integration. For fintech players, AI digital humans, AI risk management, and AI finance have become trends. For players in the real economy, AI elements are also pervasive, with unmanned manufacturing and intelligent production becoming almost standard configurations.

Upon deep analysis, it becomes evident that fintech and the real economy, two entities that were originally unrelated and unable to achieve perfect integration, now share a new connection point in the context of AI. Through this connection point, the return of fintech to the real economy is no longer a distant concept but a logical reality. As fintech elements deeply engage with the real economy, and fintech processes and links become increasingly interconnected, fintech and the real economy are no longer separate entities but become interconnected. When this trend takes shape, deeply empowering the real economy through fintech is no longer a slogan but a tangible accomplishment.

Fintech's Own Transformation is Complete

One of the fundamental reasons for the chaos in the internet finance era was that the internet did not bring essential changes to finance itself. In many cases, finance remained finance, and the internet remained the internet. Sometimes, finance became a means for internet players to acquire and monetize traffic. Ultimately, the reason for so much chaos was that the speed of financial transformation did not keep pace with the evolution of the internet. To resolve this dilemma, finance itself necessarily required a new transformation.

With the AI era, it becomes possible to accomplish tasks that were unattainable in the internet era. For fintech, a new transformation is underway. Whether it's improving financial user service efficiency through AI assistants, establishing a safer risk management system through AI risk management models, or forging deep connections between AI agents and users and industries, we see that finance is no longer resistant to transformation but has achieved a seamless transformation.

So, what aspects does this seamless transformation of fintech mainly encompass? Based on my understanding, first, the function of finance is no longer confined to consumption at the end of the industry chain but begins to extend to the front end, empowering both ends of the industry chain. Second, the financial response mechanism is no longer lagging but is more AI-driven, establishing a proactive mechanism. This mechanism significantly reduces financial risks, as evidenced by AI risk management and intelligent stress models. Third, fintech begins to establish closer and more comprehensive connections with B-end and C-end users. This transformation not only brings digital and intelligent transformation results to B-end users but also offers broader and more personalized financial services to C-end users.

Fintech's Reach is Extended

When AI begins to bring a genuine transformation to the fintech industry, especially as AI transforms many fintech processes and links, fintech's reach starts to expand, offering greater imagination for its development.

According to the 'Insights into the Development of China's Fintech (FinTech) Industry in 2025' report recently released by iResearch Consulting (hereinafter referred to as the 'Report'), from the perspective of market size and growth rate, the overall development of the domestic fintech market is better than expected. As 2025 marks a crucial year under multiple development plans, it will usher in a new era of rapid growth. The market as a whole is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of about 13.3%, and the scale of technology investment by domestic financial institutions may exceed 650 billion yuan by 2028.

Taking agents as an example, they enable relevant fintech processes and personnel to track market dynamics, screen extensive financial reports and news information, and make more accurate risk predictions. AI agents can process credit approvals, investment and financing analyses, and other tasks round-the-clock, significantly shortening the financing service cycle for technology-based enterprises. With the help of AI's analysis of intangible assets such as patents and R&D investment, banks can more efficiently assess the value of technological innovation enterprises and optimize decisions for 'early and small investments'.

Faced with the strong professionalism and diverse needs of technology enterprises, AI agents help provide more customized and professional financial services. Agents can act as 'digital consultants', answering inquiries about financing and risk management for technological innovation enterprises at any time and offering corresponding product combinations based on the enterprise's development stage. AI agents can also use big data and algorithm models to dynamically assess the technological prospects and market trends of technological innovation enterprises and detect potential risks early.

For instance, Jardine Technology has developed its enterprise-level office assistant platform, the 'Lingxi' AI Agent Center, based on retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology. It fully integrates knowledge flow and workflow, providing answers to questions about product information, customer service, business processes, regulations and policies, and common issues in a more natural, interactive, and user-friendly manner. It offers customized and intelligent services for enterprises and helps business personnel become 'super individuals'.

As agents bring more and greater imagination to fintech, the reach of fintech begins to expand. Whether it's the transformation of internal fintech processes and links, the innovation and development of financial products, or the expansion into new fintech markets, fintech's reach has extended into new territories. With the maturation of new concepts such as intelligent marketing, intelligent risk management, intelligent customer service conversations, and post-loan management, especially as they begin to form a certain scale effect, fintech will reconstruct and establish an entirely new growth model, thereby propelling its development into a new phase.

Conclusion

The AI era of fintech is catalyzing a new transformation. For fintech, many things that were unattainable in the traditional financial era and the internet finance era are now becoming a reality. This represents not only an improvement in the efficiency of the financial industry but also a profound transformation and even the recreation and reshaping of a new ecosystem. For fintech, the AI era is indeed the era that can bring profound impacts and changes to its development. When all this is accomplished, fintech will undoubtedly usher in a new round of growth. Currently, the market has new demands for fintech. For fintech players, providing full-lifecycle, end-to-end financial services and better supporting technological innovation in industries is not only a self-upgrade but also a new release of dividends amidst the transformation of market demands. Finding ways for AI and fintech to resonate at the same frequency and truly realizing the transformation of fintech may be the key to unlocking new imaginations in fintech and bringing its development into a new cycle.