The leaders of numerous financial institutions, central bank officials and regulators gathered in Shanghai's financial district to discuss the future of financial technology, or fintech. That's as the city, as well as the many traditional banks here, are pushing hard to advance in the sector.

Most financial professionals see fintech as the future of this century-old sector. Fintech is now a 654 billion yuan industry with double-digit annual growth. Chinese banks have been joining the ranks of tech firms by setting up fintech branches over the past few years. Two-year-old CIB Fintech is one of those pioneers.

CHEN CHONG, PRESIDENT CIB FINTECH "We are different from other fintech firms because we can have access to the vast financial resources of China Industrial Bank. A lot of our innovations can be put to experiments within CIB initially."

YANG CHENGXI SHANGHAI "Many fintech firms like Ant Financial and Webank were conceived and born in China's biggest tech conglomerates. Experts say that the new players founded by state-owned banks need to get accustomed to fierce market competition."

CHEN CHONG, PRESIDENT CIB FINTECH "I have a long career in banking in China. My own impression is that it is very challenging for traditional institutions like us to transform into a very market-oriented entity."

Many Chinese fintech firms are based in technology hubs likes Beijing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen. Shanghai has long been China's financial center, but it's seen as playing catch-up in the industry. Officials from the Shanghai Free Trade Zone announced at a fintech summit on Thursday a plan to support the sector. The plan includes the establishment of a 40 thousand square meters zone for new fintech firms.

REN KAIFENG, DIRECTOR LUJIAZUI ADMINISTRATIVE BUREAU, SHANGHAI FTZ "Shanghai's advantage is that we have many well-established companies, talents, and mature market mechanisms. Many of our zone's services will be provided by an industry chain of third party business entities instead of from the authority. The government is responsible for setting up the infrastructure for this ecosystem."

Data suggests that the entire financial industry in China is moving to fintech quickly. The financial firm EY says the adoption rate for fintech stood at 69% in the Chinese mainland in 2017. That's the highest in the world. As the industry transforms, old and new players alike are racing against time to win in the new age. YCX, CGTN, SHANGHAI.