Ant International ties sustainability to management pay
Wed, 13th May 2026 (Today)
Ant International has published its 2025 Sustainability Report, its second since beginning to operate independently.
The report says the company has tied sustainability metrics to management performance assessments, shifting how it measures internal accountability alongside financial and operational targets.
It also outlines the scale of Ant International's payments and financial services network. Alipay+ and Antom connect 2 billion user accounts with more than 150 million merchants, while WorldFirst and Bettr provide global account services to 1.6 million small and medium-sized enterprises and give more than 30 million underserved businesses and individuals access to credit.
Inclusion sits at the centre of the company's six-part sustainability framework, which covers travel, trade, thrive, tech, talent and trust. The report highlights three priorities for the year: widening access to artificial intelligence for SMEs and emerging markets, strengthening compliance and security systems, and using digital tools to support social and environmental projects.
AI access
Ant International said it expanded AI tools for businesses that lack the budget or infrastructure to build such systems themselves. Products cited include Antom Copilot 2.0, which handles payment integration, merchant onboarding, risk checks and chargeback processes, and an agentic payment system designed to let AI agents initiate and complete transactions using cards and alternative payment methods.
It also highlighted GenAI Cockpit, described as a service platform for fintech groups in emerging markets. According to the report, partners including Malaysia's TNG eWallet and Pakistan's easypaisa are using the system to develop AI commerce tools ranging from customer service assistants to sales support applications.
Other projects outlined in the report include Alipay+ Voyager, an AI travel assistant embedded in super apps, an open-source foreign exchange forecasting tool with reported prediction accuracy of up to 93%, and EPOS360, an operations and financing platform for SMEs being introduced in Southeast Asia.
Inclusion metrics were also integrated into major innovation projects so product development could be assessed against outcomes for smaller businesses and underserved markets.
Eric Jing, chairman of Ant Group and Ant International, addressed the change in internal measurement. "Accountability must be structural, not aspirational. When sustainability outcomes are valued as much as revenue growth or operational efficiency, the whole organisation is more likely to align accordingly-just like how it might work with entire economies," he said.
Chief executive Peng Yang and president Douglas Feagin set out the broader commercial logic behind the approach. "Our success relies on our ability to innovate for small businesses and emerging markets to thrive above social and technological shifts. Doing great by doing good should be our strategic differentiator," Yang said.
Trust systems
A second theme in the report is the push to strengthen anti-money-laundering controls, data protection and transaction security as Ant International's international footprint grows. It said it increased spending on compliance systems and security tools in response to changing regulatory and risk conditions.
Among the technologies listed was SHIELD, a risk detection model with 7 billion parameters that, according to the company, can identify high-risk transactions with more than 95% precision while improving payment success rates by up to 13.5%. The report also points to its Digital Wallet Guardian Partnership, which allows wallet operators to share anti-fraud tools and funds protection measures, and to a privacy-enhancing technology programme cited by Singapore's Personal Data Protection Commission in industry guidance.
Ant International said it expanded its Risk Management Committee mechanism and continued to develop a three-layer anti-money-laundering programme based on a global set of minimum control standards. AI-based detection and security review tools are now part of that effort, it said.
Yang said the company would continue investing in this area. "We will continue to double down on responsible innovation and collaboration to achieve our shared vision: a more inclusive, prosperous, and trustful global economy," he said.
Community projects
The report also details social and environmental work carried out with partners in several markets. In New York, Alipay+ worked with basketball team New York Liberty on shoe donation drives, a youth maths initiative and a tree-planting scheme. In Hong Kong, AlipayHK served as a digital channel for fundraising after the Tai Po fire, collecting HK$200 million from 450,000 users in the first three days.
In Indonesia, Ant International said it worked with DANA and Konservasi Indonesia on Ocean Buddy, an in-app programme for whale shark protection that links user activity with conservation efforts. It also said the 10x1000 Tech for Inclusion initiative, run with the International Finance Corporation and more than 50 partners, has certified 9,504 participants since 2018, 55% of them women.
Leiming Chen, chief sustainability officer, said sustainability is shaping how the company builds and expands its products. "Sustainability is increasingly becoming our primary driver of responsible innovation, we will work together to ensure that as we expand globally, our progress remains inclusive, measurable, and impactful for the communities we serve," Chen said.