Singapore-headquartered Ant International opened its Global Development Center (GDC) in Kuala Lumpur, located within Malaysia’s international financial center TRX.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ant International said the center builds on its existing workforce in Malaysia, featuring 1,500 fintech roles, with more than 50 percent serving in technology positions. Around half of its tech team are recent graduates from more than 30 Malaysian universities. Ant International will deepen collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education to co-develop FinAI talent through hackathons, training, and curated curricula.
The launching ceremony on Wednesday featured Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The government chief highlighted the opening as a new chapter for Malaysia and praised Ant International for choosing the country as the home for its first global fintech development center of its kind.
Prime Minister Anwar said technology, finance, and innovation must add true value to the economy by generating quality jobs, strengthening local capabilities, expanding opportunities for businesses, and widening affordable access to services for those traditionally left behind.
He noted that Malaysia and China have raised the share of trade settled in local currencies from around 5 percent to 18 percent of total bilateral trade. AI must be applied responsibly to ensure its benefits are broadly shared, he added.
He also said the Malaysian government is completing an AI Governance Bill and will seek Ant International’s input to ensure it reflects international best practices, complementing existing cybersecurity and data protection frameworks.
Cyril Han, CEO of Ant Group, said Malaysia is on its way to becoming a leading regional and global hub for digital and AI innovation, and Ant International is ready to support the AI Nation 2030 target. Peng Yang, CEO of Ant International, said the GDC reflects the company’s commitment to growing world-class innovators and AI commerce solutions from Malaysia.
On partnerships, Ant International has supported the development of Touch ‘n Go eWallet since 2017, which today serves over 26 million consumers and businesses. Through Alipay+ and its partnership with PayNet, more than 600,000 merchants, primarily SMEs, received payment from an Alipay+ partner in the first half of 2026, up more than 70 percent year-on-year.
Total tourism spending via national QR DuitNow rose more than 60 percent, with Alipay+ being the largest contributor to inbound QR transactions in Malaysia. In the next step of the partnership, Malaysian payment apps supported by PayNet will be able to make payments at over 150 million merchants in more than 220 markets connected to Alipay+.
On SME support, EPOS360, an AI-as-a-Service platform launched in January 2026 in partnership with TNG Digital, now serves over 14,000 SMEs across Malaysia. WorldFirst, Ant International’s global accounts service provider, received in-principle approval from Bank Negara Malaysia to operate a Class A Money Services Business, enabling cross-border financial services for Malaysian businesses. For enterprise partners, AirAsia reduced foreign exchange-related costs by 40 percent by leveraging Ant International’s open-sourced AI FX model.