Abdul Latif Jameel Finance, an innovative financing solutions and services provider in Saudi Arabia, and Ant International, a global digital payment, digitization and financial technology provider based in Singapore, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly explore opportunities in the financial technology sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Ant International said in a statement on Monday that through this collaboration, the duo will help grow and strengthen Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Saudi Arabia with advanced digital services.
According to the statement, both parties plan to collaborate on a diversified range of innovative digital financial services to businesses and consumers in the Kingdom.
In particular, exploring how WorldFirst, Ant International’s all-in-one digital cross-border payment and treasury account service, can leverage its technology to support Abdul Latif Jameel Finance’s digitization strategy for its diverse financial and consumer businesses.
The will also be collaborating on advanced cross-border payment solutions, leveraging Alipay+, Ant International’s global mobile wallet gateway, to support local and international expansion of customers in Abdul Latif Jameel Finance’s robust merchant network in Saudi Arabia.
The duo will also be further partnering on opportunities in embedded finance, while leveraging Ant International’s digital technologies.
“Our collaboration with Ant International represents an important step toward realizing our vision of enabling innovative and more inclusive financial solutions in Saudi Arabia,
“As the fintech ecosystem continues to evolve, we remain committed to contributing to the advancement of the financial sector, in line with Vision 2030,” said Dr. Khalid Alsharif, Chief Executive Officer of Abdul Latif Jameel Finance.
Meanwhile, Leiming Chen, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International, said the MoU is another important step in Ant International’s journey to build cross-sector partnerships with regional industry leaders in supporting Saudi Arabia’s digital economy agenda.
Clara Shi, Chief Executive Officer of WorldFirst, also said the firm and Ant International are honored to support the mission of Abdul Latif Jameel Finance to provide diversified financial and digital services for MSMEs in the Middle East,
“Joining our innovative fintech capabilities with Abdul Latif Jameel Finance’s expertise and ecosystem, we look forward to contributing to regional trade and commerce as Saudi Arabia embraces an exciting digital transformation,” she added.
With headquarters in Singapore and main operations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, Ant International provides global wallet gateway, global merchant payment services, unified global account services, and embedded finance services through its major brands Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst, and Bettr.
In 2025, the firm opened its first Middle East office in Riyadh and will integrate Alipay+ with Saudi Arabia’s national payment scheme, mada, in 2026.
The MoU aims to better serve Saudi Arabia’s retail and MSME customers, leveraging a combination of Abdul Latif Jameel Finance’s reach in the Kingdom and Ant International’s digital technologies, said the statement.
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