• Published on 5 September 2024
• 1294 Views
• Print

Ant International CEO envisions innovative global financial inclusion

Ant International CEO Yang Peng shared the company’s learnings and insights into the future of financial services innovation and his vision for prosperity and inclusion in Saudi Arabia at 24 Fintech 2024 on Tuesday.

Ant International fully aligned to Saudi Vision 2030

Saudi Arabia’s SME sector has witnessed remarkable growth and development over the past decade, due to the government’s support and the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative. In 2023, 1.27 million SMEs contributed 28.7% to Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product (GDP). Saudi Arabia offers a unique combination of a large market, young population and strong government support, enabling the country to realise its potential as a financial leader.

Yang said, “Ant International shares similar goals and visions for innovation and economic inclusion, complimentary to the local government’s endeavours.”

He said, “We have a wealth of experience and trusted technological capabilities that help drive digital economy growth in emerging markets such as the SEA region. Our expertise, together with Saudi Arabia’s vision for growth and innovation, are complementary for establishing the region as a financial innovation hub in time for Saudi Vision 2030.”

The Saudi Vision 2030 initiative will enable Saudi Arabia to develop global connectivity with its SMEs, grow its digital economy and ensure equal access and opportunities for its people. Saudi Arabia’s large market size and young, tech-savvy population with high smartphone penetration makes the region a fertile ground for fintech adoption.

“Ant International is fully aligned to this programme. We are committed to supporting Saudi Arabia to fulfil its goals for travel, digitalisation and SME growth with our technologies and innovations,” he said.

Through building an open ecosystem, Ant International is willing to work closely with local partners utilising its innovative digital solutions, promoting connectivity, simplicity and inclusivity, such as:

• Alipay+ supports local merchants, including SMEs to attract tourists from all over the world by offering a seamless digital payment experience, the same as if they were paying in their home countries.
• Antom, a merchant payment services provider, helps facilitate local users to buy from global e-commerce or digital entertainment platforms.
• WorldFirst with its Global SME World Account Service and newly launched app will be of help to local SMEs to ride on the wave of international trade growth.
• The embedded finance service bettr, as well as our credit tech solutions, can also contribute to enhancing financial inclusion of the local market.
• The blockchain-based global real-time payment (RTP) platform, dubbed “Whale”, is pioneering advanced technology for treasury management and liquidity management.

Forging a collaboration between Ant International and Saudi Arabia

Ant International is powering the future of global commerce with digital innovation, enabling everyone and every business to thrive, and aiding Saudi Arabia’s unique position.

“Ant International’s philosophy is open, inclusive and tech-driven. Collaboration has always been in our DNA. At Ant International, we believe in the power of small. With wallet tech, payment tech, credit tech, platform tech, and risk tech, technology is behind everything we do and every solution we offer,” said Yang.

In May 2024, The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ant International to facilitate business expansion into the Kingdom, outlining shared goals for technological innovation and economic growth opportunities while supporting the acquisition of licences and certificates to operate locally.

Introduced in 2020, Alipay+ cross-border mobile payment and digitalisation technology solutions now connect over 90 million merchants in 66 countries and regions to 1.5 billion consumer accounts on over 30 e-wallets and banking apps, allowing consumers to travel and pay worry-free globally, and merchants to build out cross-border consumer engagement and digital marketing.

Antom provides one-stop, vertical-specific digital payment solutions to meet the payment needs of merchants of all sizes, especially SMEs. With a presence in over 150 markets, Antom currently supports merchants in over 40 markets with the flexibility to accept payments in more than 100 currencies.

WorldFirst, a one-stop digital payment and financial services platform for global businesses, especially SMEs dealing in international trade, has served one million customers worldwide and is connected to over 120 marketplaces.

Launched in Thailand in June, bettr is committed to enhancing the accessibility and ease of financing, unlocking growth opportunities for MSMEs by leveraging its innovation-led tech like AI and privacy-preserving computing to enable secure financing solutions.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker