Ant Financial is building a roughly $1 billion investment fund to back start-ups across Southeast Asia and India.
Alibaba’s financial technology arm is looking to expand its reach across the region using a huge war chest. Plans for the fund are at an early stage, according to «Financial Times»(behind paywall). Jack Ma's financial group is keen to expand outside of China, where rival Tencent has a strong grip in the personal finance space.
Ant Financial Group also expressed interest in bidding for a digital banking license in Singapore, as reported by finews.asia.
