China’s largest search engine Baidu has bought a 5.71% stake in Beijing-based fintech company Yusys Technologies for nearly RMB 600 million (USD 86.3 million), according to the latter’s filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
Baidu’s chief technology officer Wang Haifeng said that Yusys has consolidated a leading position among fintech solution providers in China’s fintech sector in the past 20 years. Baidu’s strategic cooperation with Yusys will allow the company to apply its artificial intelligence technologies in the financial sector on a large scale, according to Baidu’s press release.
Yusys booked about RMB 1.1 billion in total revenue in the first half of this year, up 40.6% year on year, beating the 15% year-on-year growth rate over the same time frame of China’s software and information industry, according to the company’s 2019 first half financial report. The company earned RMB 81 million in net profits in the first six months of last year, up 20.5% year-on-year.
The company provides IT solutions to financial institutions in China, offering consulting, software development, as well as operations and maintenance services.
People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank and China Development Bank, as well as the country’s six largest commercial banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China are all Yusys’ clients, according to its 2019 first half report.