Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group, has on Thursday unveiled its new Singapore office as home to its various international business and technology segments, including Ant International.

With a newly created Ant International Foundation (AIF), Ant Group reaffirms the company’s commitment to Singapore as a global anchor of innovation and sustainable growth, Ant Group said in a statement.

“This new office signifies our commitment to enabling our teams in Singapore to continue playing an important role in our international development,” said Eric Jing, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ant Group

In particular, he said Ant International and the creation of Ant International Foundation mark a new journey for the international development of Ant Group.

“Today, people everywhere are looking for new pathways to inclusive and sustainable growth,

“We will give our best to help realize the promise of digital technologies to bring small and beautiful changes to every small business and every community we serve,” he added.

According to the statement, Ant International, the international business unit of Ant Group, is committed to powering the future of global commerce with digital innovation to enable consumers with seamless payment services, and help global merchants to do business easily everywhere through trusted and innovative digital solutions.

Peng Yang, the newly appointed President of Ant International, said the launch of an expanded office and AIF in Singapore, a global hub of financial innovation and sustainable growth, marks a new chapter of growth and collaboration for the business.

“From Singapore we are extending a global journey towards our unchanging vision: to work with partners to create a future commerce where every individual and every business may harness the power of digital technologies to achieve sustainable growth,” he said.

He also said the trust and support from Singaporean and global partners is both humbling and inspiring for the firm.

“We will further strengthen regional and global collaboration with policymakers, financial industry partners and customers, to bring better experience to people and more prosperity for businesses in Asia and beyond, ” he added.

In its current operation, Alipay+, a suite of global cross-border payments, marketing and digitalization solutions, connects close to 30 payment partners, enabling tens of millions of merchants to engage over 1.4 billion user accounts with smoother digital payment and varied marketing assistance.

A global acquiring and merchant service arm, backed by extensive institutional channels and a comprehensive license and compliance structure, covers over 200 countries and regions.

Under WorldFirst, Ant International offers over 400,000 SMEs in Asia and beyond a full-stack of cross-border payment, foreign exchange and funds management services in 40 main currencies through its business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) segments.

ANEXT Bank, a digital wholesale bank incorporated and licensed in Singapore, is dedicated to providing embedded and green digital financing services for regional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

It is noted that Ant International also pledges to increase investment in Singapore on cutting-edge technologies to enhance trust and efficiency in digital commerce, including privacy-preserving computing and Web.3.0 innovations.

The company is a participant in the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) Privacy-Enhancing Technologies sandbox and has teamed up with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in privacy computing research collaboration under the ambit of Strategic Centre for Research in Privacy-Preserving Technologies & Systems (SCRIPTS), which is an initiative jointly funded by the IMDA and National Research Foundation.

Committed to a sustainable friendly digital future, Ant Group is also collaborating with IMDA to promote “Tech for Good” by encouraging more sustainable digital consumption built on carbon reduction techniques and framework.

According to the statement, the unveiling was marked with the launch of Ant International Foundation (AIF), a registered foundation to be set up in Singapore, focusing on emerging issues around environmental protection, promotion of more digital inclusion for the underserved communities and cultivation of digital leadership and talents to bring transformative changes to their communities.

AIF is dedicated to amplifying positive impact by harnessing collective strengths through partnerships globally.

It aims to work with worldwide partners, including the 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Project, a non-profit project launched by Ant Group and International Finance Corporation to promote tech inclusion and bridges digital literacy in underserved communities.

It also aims to work with Green Digital Finance Alliance, a Swiss based non-profit initiative jointly launched with the United Nations Environmental Program, in enabling transformative digital and financial innovation for climate, nature and biodiversity challenges.

The firm also aims to work with Forum of Young Global Leaders, a global leadership program led by the World Economic Forum.

Leiming Chen, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International, also announced AIF will lead new collaborative projects in Singapore including Girls Love Tech initiatives with SG Women In Tech to advance inclusivity and capacity-building in the fintech industry.

“Ant International Foundation anchors our commitment to bring more sustainable and inclusive impact for people and the planet in Singapore and beyond,” he said.

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