Ant International, a Singapore-based global digital payments and financial technology provider, is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered portfolio of financial and commerce solutions.
The move aims to drive inclusive, sustainable growth by enhancing access to payments, credit, digital banking and cross-border connectivity across fast-growing yet fragmented digital economies.
Ant International supported more than 2 billion digital cross-border transactions in 2025 for merchants in its core emerging markets, including Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
The company serves more than 150 million merchants worldwide, 90% of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The company sees Thailand as a “centrepiece” for its cross-border strategy due to its status as a leading tourist destination, said Douglas Feagin, president of Ant International.
“In the world’s fastest growing emerging markets, real-world, trusted and scalable adoption of AI and other new technologies can unlock entirely new growth opportunities for large and small businesses,” he said.
“It is time for fintech innovators to convert access into real growth momentum. We will work even harder to put AI-powered digital payments, financing, commerce and cross-border solutions on the ground for entrepreneurs and communities with ever lower costs and ever stronger safety and security guardrails.”
While many tech giants are focused on developing core large language models, Ant is building a specialised application layer on top of existing technologies to make AI “practically implementable” for merchants and consumers, Mr Feagin said.
Ant International operates on four core pillars, including the Alipay+ payment solution that connects 1.8 billion accounts via 40 mobile payment partners like TrueMoney, linking users to 150 million merchants worldwide.
The company’s Antom platform provides merchant payment solutions, enabling platforms such as Netflix and Shein to reach users beyond traditional banking.
Bettr financial service supports lending with a blockchain-based foreign exchange system, offering credit to SMEs and individuals.
WorldFirst delivers a unified global account for SMEs, simplifying international payments, supplier transactions and lending.
Ant International is focused on building trusted financial AI technologies. In 2025, its open-source Falcon Time-Series Transformer AI model helped AirAsia cut foreign exchange hedging costs by up to 40%.
The company has several AI-driven tools in operation such as Antom Copilot, which made the onboarding process for Antom services 95% faster than traditional systems.
In addition, Voyager is an AI-enabled solution specifically designed to optimise travel-related services for e-wallet partners.
Thailand was among the first markets Ant International entered outside China.
A recent collaboration with National ITMX and Krungthai Bank enabled Chinese travellers to pay Thai merchants via PromptPay QR using Alipay.
In 2025, WorldFirst was launched in Thailand through a partnership with 2C2P, offering unified global accounts for local exporters.
Through its 2C2P arm, Ant International has expanded merchant reach by enabling payments through digital wallets and QR code-based channels, which are preferred by many Thai users.
Ant International recently introduced Bettr lending solutions to the Thai market.
Worachat Luxkanalode, chief executive of 2C2P (Thailand), a Southeast Asian payment platform under Ant International, said between 2025 and 2027 the company will invest US$60 million in tech, infrastructure and innovation to ensure reliable, stable payments for all customers.
He outlined a growth strategy that includes strengthening enterprise solutions and accelerating expansion across Southeast Asia by maintaining 35-38% growth in established markets such as Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.
2C2P is expanding beyond enterprise clients to SMEs this year, launching a new business line that leverages Ant International’s global expertise in small business payments.
“We are investing $15 million to empower SMEs to accept payments online and offline, starting with Thailand, as well as supporting the rollout of Antom SME digital solutions in Southeast Asia,” said Mr Worachat.
Despite global economic challenges, he said there are structural tailwinds for SMEs in Thailand such as the rapid rise of digital payments and booming tourism.
“Our plan is to turn those tailwinds into everyday revenue for SMEs without increasing their operating costs by applying our enterprise-grade payments expertise,” said Mr Worachat.
2C2P is developing SME-focused products that enable small businesses to accept domestic and tourist payments via cards, PromptPay QR, cross-border QR and digital wallets.
He said Ant International is looking into agentic payment, where AI agents integrate into chat applications to handle checkouts on behalf of consumers.
In the enterprise sector, particularly for the aviation industry, the company is shifting to AI models for a payment orchestration method.
This shift is designed to maximise transaction success rates, ensuring high-value bookings such as international flights are captured successfully without technical friction.
