Chinese digital wealth manager Lufax plans U.S. IPO

Lufax, one of China’s largest digital investment management platforms, filed paperwork for a U.S. IPO this week. It joins Chinese financial services firms Ant Group and JD Digits, the fintech arm of digital retail marketplace JD.com, both of which went public earlier this summer.

Why should we care?
Lufax is the wealth management arm of Ping An Insurance Group, China’s largest insurer. Lufax reportedly made $1B in profit in the first half of this year on revenue of $3.6B, and its clients hold $53B in assets. Lufax could be one of the biggest Chinese IPOs in the U.S. after Alibaba went public in 2014. The company began operations as a peer-to-peer lender but pivoted after the sector faced a clampdown from the Chinese government in 2017. Despite its growth potential, one headwind Lufax may face in the U.S. market is growing scrutiny of Chinese financial firms from U.S. politicians, a development which could scuttle its growth prospects.