As the year of 2024 comes to an end, we sought insights from prominent figures across the Southeast Asian tech landscape. These leaders reflected on their triumphs throughout the year, sharing valuable perspectives on their achievements and the challenges they overcame. Furthermore, they unveiled their ambitious aspirations, meticulously outlined their strategic plans for 2025, and offered insightful predictions on the trajectory of the tech industry in the coming year.
We talked to Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International, to learn more about the company’s achievements in 2024, its plans and aspirations for 2025. Based in Singapore, Ant International provides partners across industries and markets comprehensive range of digital payment and financial technology solutions.
1. How was Ant International’s 2024?
Ant International recorded robust growth across our key pillar businesses – Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst and Embedded finance – accelerating our presence in payments, digitalization and inclusive financial services in 2024.
Full results here.
Highlights:
- Alipay+: Now collaborating with 35 leading mobile payment partners with 1.6 billion user accounts to connect them to over 90 million merchants in 66 markets; more than 90 percent of merchants accepting payments via Alipay+ are SMEs; in 2024, Alipay+ cross-border transactions grew 3x year-on-year (y-o-y)
- Antom: Total Payment Volume (TPV) nearly doubled and card processing volume grew 10 times year-on-year; new innovations launched such as Antom Co-pilot and Antom EasySafePay to further enhance growth and efficiency for merchants
- WorldFirst: Accumulatively served more than 1 million SMEs globally, with TPV surpassing US$300 billion; expanding footprint from Asia and Europe to the rest of the world
- Embedded finance: Our Credit Tech and Platform Tech leverage cutting- edge AI and blockchain technologies to innovate secure, end-to-end embedded finance solutions to clients and partners across Alipay+, Antom and WorldFirst; FX solutions has accuracy of more than 90 percent, significantly lowering cost and uncertainty; building on ANEXT Bank and launched new inclusive credit service bettr, supporting 11 million users in developing markets
2. What are your expectations/aspirations for 2025?
We are committed to advancing inclusive growth through AI-powered innovation and collaboration on cross-border travel, trade, commerce and inclusive finance. In 2025, we will continue our laser-focus on supporting SMEs across borders with AI-powered innovative and trusted payment, digitalization, and inclusive financing solutions through expanded public- and private-sector collaboration
3. What are your plans in 2025? What is the focus of the new year?
Ant International is focused on driving innovation, inclusion, and sustainable growth across key businesses, technology pillars and sustainable impact initiatives:
- Payments: We believe payments should be an enabler for new and greater business models, digitalization and growth. We plan to support more
merchants in this transformation journey from payments and beyond. We aim to empower more local communities’ economic growth and help more
small and medium sized business gain more market access and business opportunities. - AI: Accelerate AI across our business including in risk, FX and personalization of digital services, and to make these services accessible to more businesses to support the needs of merchants and customers for security and reliability. We need to strengthen digital trust, especially in the areas of combatting deepfakes, real-time risk management and privacy enhancing technology.
- Web3: Supporting new innovation in tokenized bank deposits for more interoperable, secure and efficient global funds transfers and liquidity management. We partner with banks like DBS and OCBC on treasury management via our Whale platform.
- Financial Inclusion: SMEs are a key focus for Ant International – they form the backbone of global economy, and when they succeed, we all benefit, which is why many of our tech solutions, such as SME lending and credit tech, across each of our business are particularly focused on empowering this segment of businesses. In addition, alongside other like-minded partners, we support MSMEs in capacity building, access to digital tools and sustainability transformation.
- Environmental sustainability: We are leveraging our digital innovations and industry collaborations to drive meaningful change for the environment. We just announced our global marine conservation program AquaViva at the Singapore Pavilion at COP29.
4. How is the outlook for 2025 for FinTech industry in Southeast Asia?
ASEAN as a whole has a positive economic trajectory, with the region on track to becoming the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030. We see a lot of progress made in Southeast Asia on fintech developments like QR payments and inclusive finance, where the region is already seen as a leader in broad digitalization, including in areas like national standardized QR codes and G2G linkages. We will continue to work closely with our payment and merchant partners in the region to meet these new and evolving needs.