Kang Lan is one of China's top executives and her firm, Fosun, is trying to invigorate a venerable German private bank. She got a rude awakening on payment systems along the way.

The head of Fosun's insurance activities, Kang Lan, is a well-traveled Chinese businesswoman who graduated with honors from Wharton in Pennsylvania, an elite U.S. business school.

A senior vice-president with Fosun, Kang works in a country which has adapted mobile payments far faster than any other market, with Alipay and TenPay dominating. In fact, Fosun recently launched its own payments app, appropriately called Fosun-Pay.

Keystone Cops

On a recent visit back to the Keystone State, Kang had her U.S. driver's license renewed at the local Department of Motor Vehicles, or DMV.

Hilarity ensued, as well as a painful lesson in the disparities in payment services around the world, she told an audience of bankers at a conference held by German newspaper «Handelsblatt». The license was updated without a problem – but Kang couldn't pay because of the antiquated nature of bureaucratic chores in the U.S.

«No One in China Has Used a Cheque»

«I couldn’t actually pay with cash, I was not allowed to pay with a credit card,» she said.

Kang was incredulous to be told she would have to write a cheque for the renewal. Without her chequebook, she ended up buying a money order – which generally cost $5 to $10 – to pay for her license, which cost around $30. «It was last year, can you believe that? In China no one [has] ever used a chequebook!» she said.

Gaming, Learning

Fosun is bringing its payments savvy to the German market via a partnership with Hauck & Aufhaueser, a 221-year-old German private bank. The Shanghai-based investment firm bought the German bank last year, in part as a bridgehead for Chinese investors into Germany.

In turn, Hauck & Aufhaeuser's clientele are aging, and not actively transacting with their bank, she said. The private bank is trying different approaches, including gaming or learning approaches to engage what it hopes will be a new generation of clients with the bank.