Ant Financial Expands from Mobile Payments to Wealth Management

Sometimes it just makes sense to share technology. It can open doors to future sales, or even establish a company as a go-to source in the market. Ant Financial recently embarked on that path itself, opening up an array of artificial intelligence (AI) tools geared toward helping financial institutions engage in digital transformation.

More specifically, Ant Financial is offering access to its Caifuhao system, a wealth management mechanism powered by AI that has already been put to good use by a range of firms. Operational efficiency, at last report, has increased an average of 70 percent, and costs are down by half for the 27 firms that have set upa Caifuhao connection so far. Reports suggest that daily visitors are up an average of 10 times their original numbers, and total investment from returning customers is up three-fold.

Ant Financial’s tools, and not just Caifuhao, are proving popular across the entire financial industry in the region. Reports note over 100 asset management companies have signed on with Ant Financial’s Ant Fortune arm since it started up in 2015. The popularity of Ant Fortune led to further development, and now users can get access to over 4,000 different wealth management products.

Ant Financial’s wealth management business group’s vice president Guoming Zu noted “China’s asset management industry is experiencing an incredible digital transformation, with customer service becoming increasingly more important than sales functions. With our proven track record of supporting financial institutions, Ant Financial is ready to share a full suite of AI capabilities with ecosystem partners in the asset management industry.”

While Ant Financial’s biggest presence might be in mobile payments, it’s routinely showed itself to be eager to expand outward. Perhaps in response to the Chinese government’s increasing tightening of mobile payments regulation, or perhaps just as a way to hedge against possible changes in the market, there are plenty of possible explanations. Regardless of the reason, Ant Financial has diversified and quite thoroughly.

With Ant Financial’s wealth management tools proving as popular as its mobile payments tools, it puts itself in a better position than ever. Where will it expand in the future? Outright investments? Mobile payments in more countries, independent of the Chinese market? Only time will tell, but Ant Financial is in an excellent position to make that push.