Ant International supported over 2 billion digital cross-border transactions in 2025 for merchants across its core emerging markets, including Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. The company, which currently serves more than 150 million merchants globally, with 90% being SMEs, is expanding its AI-powered digital financial and commerce solutions tailored to these regions. Its strategic focus remains on enhancing access to payments, credit, digital banking, and cross-border connectivity in rapidly growing, yet fragmented, digital economies.
Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International, noted the potential of AI and new technologies to unlock growth opportunities for businesses in the world’s fastest-growing emerging markets. He stated that the company aims to convert access into significant growth momentum by providing AI-powered digital payments, financing, commerce, and cross-border solutions with reduced costs and enhanced security.
Digital inclusion through payment digitalization and integration is central to business success in these markets. Through Alipay+ and Antom, online and offline merchants can accept a diverse range of QR, mobile, and card payments. Ant International plans to extend this connectivity from Asia to the Middle East and Latin America, with Alipay+ also supporting the development of e-wallet and super-app ecosystems in more markets.
Access to banking and financing continues to be a challenge for SMEs. Bettr, an Ant International initiative, has expanded credit services to over 30 million SMEs and individuals. Following a strategic investment in R2, an embedded lending infrastructure company, Bettr is also expanding its operations across Latin America.
Ant International is committed to developing trusted FinAI technologies. In 2025, the company open-sourced its proprietary Falcon Time-Series Transformer (TST) AI model, which improved AirAsia’s FX risk management and reduced its hedging costs by up to 40%. The company emphasizes supporting the effective, safe, and controlled adoption of AI in commerce to deliver measurable and scalable results for merchants. Antom Copilot, a pioneering payment agent, has reduced payment integration time for Antom clients by up to 95%. Additionally, Antom Payment Orchestration (APO) provides a single-integration, comprehensive payment access solution for merchants, featuring smart routing to enhance payment success rates. Overall, Antom clients experienced a 75% growth outside China. Ant International’s full-suite payment platforms, 2C2P in Southeast Asia and MultiSafePay in Europe, leverage localized expertise and adaptive AI tools to support businesses ranging from regional airlines and e-commerce leaders to local SMEs. EPOS360, an AI-powered SME app, integrates practical AI tools with POS systems, payments, banking, financing, and growth operations. WorldFirst has evolved into a 360-degree global digital account service, offering payment and financial management tools across more than 200 markets and 130 e-marketplaces, extending its AI capabilities in FX management, risk control, and customer service.
Security is a foundational aspect of AI adoption. Ant International’s SHIELD 3-in-1 risk management transformer model integrates graph, sequence, and tabular modalities to protect clients and businesses. This model has achieved 95% precision in identifying high-risk transactions and boosted payment success rates by as much as 13.5%.
Cross-border interoperability across various payment methods is a key driver of trade, tourism, and economic growth. Alipay+ connects over 1.8 billion user accounts across 40 international payment partners to merchants in more than 100 markets. It functions as a significant public-private partnership for cross-border mobile payments, collaborating with 11 national QR networks globally. Through a partnership with Mastercard, Alipay+ partners, including AlipayHK, GCash, and Kakao Pay, can utilize NFC tap-to-pay functionality at Mastercard-enabled merchants. Ant International’s Platform Tech processes over US$600 billion via blockchain, operating 24/7 with over 95% of transactions completed on the same day. Additionally, Ant International and SWIFT have jointly pioneered the first bank-to-wallet payment, enabling global bank customers to send funds directly to mobile wallets.
In Southeast Asia, where Ant International has been active for over a decade, SMEs have seen tangible business impacts. Regional FinAI development includes Alipay+ supporting major mobile platforms like DANA (Indonesia), GCash (the Philippines), TrueMoney (Thailand), and TNG Digital (Malaysia). In 2025, three regional apps began developing their own AI-driven super apps with support from Ant International’s AI-as-a-Service platform, the GenAI Cockpit. Alipay+ Voyager, an AI travel services agent, was successfully launched in six apps across Asia. For interoperability, Alipay+ partners with five national QR payment networks in ASEAN. In Singapore and Malaysia, travelers spent 2.7 times and 2 times more, respectively, via SGQR and DuitNow QR, benefiting local SMEs. In Malaysia alone, travelers used home e-wallets or bank apps at over 360,000 SMEs. SEA super apps, such as GCash, are among the first globally to integrate wallet-to-card mobile payments via Alipay+’s NFC partnership with Mastercard. In trade and commerce, 2C2P under Antom recorded 38% year-over-year growth in transaction volume for merchants in Southeast Asia, driven by growth in e-commerce, airline, OTA, and retail sectors, with strong momentum in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. WorldFirst, with new entries into Malaysia and Thailand, experienced nearly 40% growth in transaction value in 2025 as more Southeast Asian SMEs engaged in global e-commerce. For inclusive finance, Bettr provides credit tech solutions to four leading SEA mobile wallets, resulting in a 184% increase in their user base. ANEXT Bank in Singapore saw a six-fold increase in cross-border transaction volumes, with 69% of its customers being micro-businesses.
Feagin concluded that as digital economies in Southeast Asia and other developing markets continue to scale, Ant International remains committed to enabling access and fostering shared prosperity. He emphasized working with partners, governments, and businesses to promote inclusive, sustainable, and globally connected growth. All data referenced represents year-on-year comparisons for 2025 versus 2024.
