(Yicai Global) Sept. 25 -- Bank of China Ltd. [SHA:601988;HKG:3988] (BoC) and Tencent Holdings Ltd. [HKG:0700] have signed an agreement to further cooperate in the financial sector, China Securities reported on Sept. 24.

China's big four internet giants have now all partnered with banks as competition in the fintech sector enters a new phase of fierce competition.

The listed lender and Tencent met to discuss areas for future financial innovation and talked about service and product upgrades by combining finance with new technologies, such as cloud computing, Big Data and artificial intelligence. They also considered business opportunities related to Tencent's vastly popular social media and lifestyle app WeChat.

The BoC-Tencent Fintech United Lab was set up in June and focuses on cloud computing, Big Data, blockchain and AI to promote inclusive finance, cloud finance, smart finance and fintech.

China's internet finance market is expected to exceed CNY12 trillion (USD1.85 trillion) by 2020, and as the industry grows rapidly, fintech will play a bigger role in producing quality assets, research institutions say.

China Construction Bank Corp. [SHA:601939;HKG:0939], Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. [SHA:601288;HKG:1288] and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. [SHA:601398;HKG:1398] previously teamed up with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. [NYSE:BABA], Baidu Inc. [NASDAQ:BIDU] and JD.com Inc. [NASDAQ:JD], respectively.

It has become a trend for lenders to build partnerships with internet companies as competition in the fintech field becomes increasingly fierce.