Fintech Arm of Chinese Insurance Giant Shoots for $500M IPO in US

OneConnect, the financial technology subsidiary of Chinese insurance giant Ping An, has updated its filing for an initial public offering (IPO) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to an F-1 filing dated Dec. 2, the firm is looking to sell $500 million worth of shares in its IPO. The recent filing states:

“We expect that we will receive net proceeds of approximately US$438.2 million from this offering, or approximately US$504.6 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full.”

Reports circulating in November claimed that OneConnect initially sought approval for a $100 million IPO.

In the filing, the company explains that its platform provides “cloud-native technology solutions” and its “solutions provide technology applications and technology-enabled business services to financial institutions.” 

Overall, OneConnect claims that its services allow customers to increase revenue, manage risks, improve efficiency, enhance service quality and reduce costs.

The firm also claims that at the end of September it had over 3,700 customers, including “all of China's major banks, 99% of its city commercial banks, and 46% of its insurance companies, collectively reaching hundreds of millions of end-customers.” Technologies employed by the company include artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain.

The current target is much lower than the $1 billion OneConnect sought in a Hong Kong IPO filing earlier this year. 

Bold claims about blockchain performance

The company claims that its blockchain technology can manage up to 50,000 transactions per second with a latency under 0.5 seconds, while also implementing privacy through zero-knowledge proofs. OneConnect’s technology has been used to develop the major blockchain-based trade finance platform eTradeConnect in partnership with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. 

The documents also claim that OneConnect’s parent firm, Ping An Group, is China’s second-largest financial institution and the sixth-largest in the world by market capitalization. According to company data website Crunchbase, OneConnect has received $650 million in funding so far in a single round led by Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank.

As the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries are becoming more mature, IPO announcements have become ever more frequent. Last month, Bitcoin mining giant Canaan Creative also held an IPO, which raised $90 million — over 75% less than expected.