(Yicai Global) May 12 -- Chinese internet titans Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding have been showing interest in exploring cloud financial services as the market for such services is rapidly expanding.

The tech industry's capabilities in the basic software field, including Big Data, databases, and operating systems, have been enhanced constantly, Tang Daosheng, senior executive vice president and chief executive of Tencent's cloud and smart industries group, said yesterday. This has created conditions for the financial sector's independent innovation, he added.

Shenzhen-based Tencent Cloud has already partnered with the People's Bank of China and the country’s ‘big six’ state-owned commercial lenders -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Agricultural Bank of China, and Postal Savings Bank of China -- with its customers including leading commercial banks, securities brokerages, and large insurers, Yicai Global learned.

Alibaba's computing and artificial intelligence arm Alibaba Cloud, headquartered in Hangzhou, has also begun to provide technological support for transforming financial institutions' core systems toward the cloud-platform structure, Liu Weiguang, general manager of the firm's intelligent new finance and internet business, said on May 8.

An increasing number of financial institutions are building more modernized business development models with the cloud-native concept at the core to realize innovative business applications that meet clients' needs, according to market intelligence provider International Data Corporation.

Most traditional core businesses of several large lenders will be migrated to the distributed core this year, Tencent said. Their traditional core businesses, including client information and credit cards, will gradually be moved onto the distributed platform, it added.

The cloud financing moves of Tencent and Alibaba are influenced by the industry’s trend of speeding up the launch of China-made basic software.

From this year to 2027, the next phase of homegrown software debuts will cover more fields and involve more linkages, shifting focus from the government domain to the large-scale promotion of major key industries, according to an earlier report by China International Capital.

Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev