The Business Times
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‘We didn’t try to be God’: Why Ant ditched its S-E Asia dream to help rivals cross borders

Claudia Chong

Claudia Chong

Published Fri, Aug 19, 2022 · 05:50 AM
    • Jia Hang, Ant’s regional manager for South-east Asia, said the region is the most important market for the group outside of China.
    • Jia Hang, Ant’s regional manager for South-east Asia, said the region is the most important market for the group outside of China. DESMOND WEE, ST

    ANT Group’s vision when it first eyed South-east Asia took quite a different form. Giddy from the success in its homeground of China, the Alibaba affiliate was ready to take its fintech super app strategy to the next most-promising market and build a unified e-wallet for the region.

    Reality hit quickly. Ant set foot in Singapore in 2013 and began persuading merchants to accept its e-wallet Alipay, but none were convinced.

    QR code payment technology was alien to them. “Merchants had a lot of concerns — ‘Is the QR code really safe? If I scan it, will my phone get some kind of virus?’” Jia Hang, Ant’s regional general manager for South-east Asia, told The Business Times in an interview.

    Ant GroupE-walletsPayments

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