Ant Group, the fintech giant affiliated with Alibaba Group Holding, is splitting the business group of its mobile payment platform Alipay into two units, in its latest corporate restructuring move to drive new growth.
The company will establish the Digital Payment Business Group and Alipay Business Group, and adopt a “rotating presidential system” for the two units with each president serving a six-month term, according to an internal letter circulated by Ant president Cyril Han Xinyi on Monday, seen by the South China Morning Post.
The Digital Payment Business Group will focus on the development of innovative payment products, integrating five departments including the Online Payment Business Unit and Offline Payment Business Unit. The Alipay Business Group, which covers six units including advertising and digital products, will focus on the user base growth and monetisation of Alipay.
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For Alipay, the change means the mobile payment platform has achieved “phased results in its transformation from a tool-based software to the internet”, Han said in the letter, adding that it also showed Alipay’s determination to digitise the service industry.
Cyril Han Xinyi, president of Ant Group. Photo: Handout alt=Cyril Han Xinyi, president of Ant Group. Photo: Handout>
The latest move comes months after Hangzhou-based Ant launched a sweeping reorganisation. In March, it announced it would restructure operations into several independently-run business units, including its overseas unit Ant International, database operation OceanBase, and Ant Digital Technologies, each with their own boards of directors. It also promoted Han to company president, taking over from Eric Jing Xiandong.
Separately, Ant appointed Liu Zheng, an Alibaba veteran and the former CFO at the e-commerce giant’s smart logistics arm Cainiao, as its new financial chief, Chinese news outlet Caixin reported on Monday.
Han, who has been CFO since 2020, will take over the CEO role from Jing in March next year, Ant announced earlier this month.
Ant did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The latest changes come amid intensified speculation that the fintech giant, whose US$39.7 billion IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai was called off by Chinese regulators in late 2020, is restarting its listing process as it has gone through a series of business overhauls. However, Ant denied the rumours last week, saying it had no immediate plans to go public.
Earlier this month, Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and Ant, gave a rare public speech at the 20th anniversary of Alipay in Hangzhou, saying he had faith in the “next 20 years of Ant” and expected “more miracles”.
Alibaba is the owner of the Post.
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