CreditEase - an SME Finance Forum member - founder and CEO Ning Tang recently shared with Mckinsey his perspective on how fintech players, from both within and outside China, can capture the opportunity among small and midsize Chinese businesses and how artificial intelligence (AI) can help. The following commentary is adapted from that conversation.

In the interview, Tang says "Small businesses in China, the US, the UK, and other parts of the world are going digital at increasing speed. A small restaurant in China, for example, is more often than not already wired up. I’m not just talking about the ordering or booking or payment experience. That’s more front line, the consumer end. I’m talking about the middle and back end, like enterprise resource planning, supply chain, employee management, shift management, and so on. It’s all digital. So we collect and analyze small-business data in real time to determine creditworthiness and provide financial help."