At the Eighth China Fintech Forum, held in Beijing on September 9 as part of the China International Fair for Trade in Services, the event convened under the theme "Technology Empowering Digital Innovation and Application in the Financial Industry." Lu Shuze, Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, delivered a keynote address on the critical intersection of technology and finance.
Lu Shuze noted that digital technology can rapidly enhance financial service capabilities, but true value only materializes when individuals and institutions can reliably harness that capability. Financial value, he explained, translates into lower costs and reduced friction, broader active usage, and services that are more dependable and trustworthy. From the AIIB's perspective, the focus lies in bridging the gap between technological capacity and these outcomes through essential infrastructure and financing support.
He pointed to global payment systems as a prime example of why the design of supporting systems is paramount. Lu Shuze argued that four conditions are essential for digital access to become a genuinely useful financial service. First, people must have access to the service itself: affordable devices, network connectivity, and reliable computing power ensure continuous availability. Second, the service must be able to verify user identity, relying on digital identification, user authorization, and regulated data to support authentication and responsible data usage.
Third, funds and information must flow at low cost, with shared systems and unified rules enabling the transfer, reception, and reconciliation of money across institutions. Fourth, users need a service that is both practical and secure, where applications, regulatory oversight, complaint mechanisms, and risk recovery systems convert mere access into functional payment, savings, credit, insurance, or investment solutions. He emphasized that these four elements together constitute an investable, integrated delivery framework, and cautioned that failure in any single link could undermine the entire service ecosystem.
"This is precisely where infrastructure investors can play a pivotal role—by funding the complete delivery pathway from initial deployment to large-scale expansion, rather than focusing solely on the final application itself," he said. Reflecting on the AIIB's own initiatives, Lu Shuze stated that the bank finances the entire delivery path from first rollout to full-scale implementation.
As of August 23, 2026, the AIIB has 111 approved members, with authorized capital of $100 billion. Across 42 member countries, the bank has approved 388 projects totalling $76.9 billion. According to the AIIB's 2026 Technology-Enabled Infrastructure Report, 93 projects were approved between 2016 and 2025: 49 with sovereign guarantees and 44 without. Of these, 79 projects applied technology within infrastructure itself, while an additional 14 projects invested directly in related technologies.