Earlier this week, KPMG and H2 Ventures published their second report on the global state of play for the fintech sector. This is a follow-up on last year's effort when KPMG and H2 Ventures launched with a "best 50" fintechs around the world. This year, the group was expanded, as Ian Pollari, KPMG's national banking sector leader in Australia and global co-lead for KPMG's fintech practice noted, the top 50 this year would include most of the same companies, although the order may have varied - and that would be less informative.  So KPMG made the decision to mix it up a bit by adding an 'Established 50" and an "Emerging Stars 50". "One thing - looking at the 'Established' list we can see seven Chinese companies, when there was just one last year - Wecash. This gives an idea of how fast this sector is moving, and topping the list is ZhongAn, the first company in China to be issued with an online insurance licence," Pollari said.  "They didn't exist before 2013, so in the space of just 18 months they've been able to add more than 150 million clients," he said. "And nine out of the top ten were not even in business before 2010." Entry to the established list is based on a number of factors including the ability to raise capital in aggregate as well as the rate at which capital is raised.  Another aspect of the KPMG list is the global factors that come into play as fintechs operate as a global dynamic. Another element added in this year was end user or market engagement. Part of this is what Pollari called the "clout score"  - a measure of social media, the engagement and following. Pollari also pointed out that of the top 100, some 25 are what he called enablers, compared to just seven last year. "It's a sign that the big banks - and financial institutions - are recognising that they need to be increasingly sourcing capability from these fintech providers and new start-ups." And one of the more interesting companies in this area comes from the European list: Fidor Bank in Germany, which has expanded into the UK. Fidor provides online banking services to consumers and small to medium enterprises, boosting its operations through use of social media.  "They are looking to white label their capabilities to incumbents - that is, other financial institutions," Pollari said. "They see themselves as a platform provider where they are providing a mechanism by which other fintech companies can provide their capability to consumers as well. [Fidor] have also launched Fidor TecS which also looks at the fintech developer community. "So, here we have a star-up that began as a disruptor, only, and is now adding a new income stream as an enabler working with on behalf of big banks," Pollari adds. He said this trend was being reflected locally, and gave the example of Canberra cyber security firm QuintessenceLabs, which is one start-up that Westpac has invested in (Westpac announced in June that it