FinTech giant Ant Group opens new office in Singapore, set to expand offerings

Chinese FinTech giant Ant Group, which has moved into new premises in Singapore, said it will be expanding its international and local offerings.

Ant Group said the new office at Guoco Midtown in Beach Road, which was unveiled on Thursday (28 Sep 2023), will primarily serve as a headquarters for its international business unit, Ant International.

The company, which has 21 offices worldwide, declined to comment on its current headcount in Singapore, and whether it plans to hire more people. Its previous office was at Lazada One in Bras Basah.

Ant Group chairman and chief executive Eric Jing said: “This new office signifies our commitment to enabling our teams in Singapore to continue playing an important role in our international development.

“In particular, Ant International and the creation of Ant International Foundation mark a new journey for the international development of Ant Group... We will give our best to help realise the promise of digital technologies to bring small and beautiful changes to every small business and every community we serve.”

Some of Ant International’s current offerings include cross-border payment solutions Alipay+ and WorldFirst, as well as ANEXT Bank – a Singapore-incorporated digital wholesale bank that caters to small and medium-sized enterprises in the region.

Earlier in 2023, Alipay+ partnered with NETS to enable payments via SGQR, enabling users to pay via SGQR codes displayed at merchants such as hawker stalls. Users of partner wallets such as Malaysia’s Touch ’n Go eWallet and China’s Alipay can also pay via SGQR in Singapore.

NTUC assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay, who attended the event on Thursday (28 Sep 2023), said: “I’ve known Ant Group in the past many years in my capacity as co-chair of the Financial Sector Tripartite Committee and my involvement in the FinTech space.

“In many of the developments in the FinTech space, I’ve seen Ant Group very supportive of the national programmes, including programmes with IMDA to promote digitalisation and inclusion across Singapore.”

Ant International said it will increase its investments in Singapore in areas such as privacy-preserving computing and Web3 technologies.

The unit is currently participating in the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) Privacy-Enhancing Technologies sandbox. It has also teamed up with Nanyang Technological University in privacy computing research. 

Ant Group is also collaborating with IMDA to promote “Tech for Good” by encouraging more sustainable digital consumption via carbon reduction techniques and frameworks.

Ant Group is an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Earlier this week, Alibaba announced that it intends to list its logistics arm, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The move is part of Alibaba’s plans to restructure the business by splitting it into six different businesses.

In 2020, Ant Group’s dual listing on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges, which would have valued the company at US$313 million (S$427 million), was suspended after regulators cited concerns about the company.
 

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