Ant Group ropes in ex-UnionPay exec to head SE Asia

Ant Group has appointed Jia Hang, formerly a UnionPay executive, as its new regional general manager for Southeast Asia. The Chinese fintech giant said the newly created role is aimed at boosting the company’s base in the region as it targets individuals and local and regional businesses, especially small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Jia Hang has more than 20 years of experience in payments and fintech and has worked in the group’s international operations since 2015. He said that Ant Group needed to be where its customers are, citing the launch of Alipay+, which provides global cross-border mobile payments to merchants, especially SMEs. Jia Hang will be based in Singapore, which is Ant Group’s regional headquarters. Ant Group was valued at around USD300bn before its planned IPO was cancelled.