How Ant International drives inclusive growth through its 6T Sustainability Framework

The company’s Sustainability Framework focusses on Travel, Trade, Thrive, Technology, Talent, and Trust.

The rising digital divides and economic uncertainty pose a challenge to small businesses in terms of accessing the tools, markets, and financial systems they need to grow.

Being a global leader in digital payments and financial technology, Ant International crafted a solution in the form of its new Sustainability Framework that aims to build a more inclusive, innovative, and sustainable digital economy.

This marks a major milestone for the company, following its reorganisation as a standalone entity and the release of its first independent Sustainability Report. With a mission "to make it easy to do business anywhere, bringing small and beautiful changes to the world” and a vision “to be the most innovative and trusted digital partner to bring inclusive growth to all,” the company is empowering small businesses with technology whilst advancing a fairer and more connected world.

New identity, clearer purpose

Ant International is headquartered in Singapore and operates globally with over 30 offices worldwide. It runs four key business pillars, namely Alipay+, a global e-wallet gateway connecting more than 1.7 billion user accounts; Antom, a unified merchant payment service; WorldFirst, a digital business account platform enabling SMEs to trade globally; and Bettr, an embedded finance platform with treasury and credit tools.

Its Sustainability Framework, meanwhile, is built around six core areas that combine business innovation with real-world impact. Also known as the 6Ts, these are travel, trade, thrive, technology, talent, and trust.

In travel, Alipay+ connects 36 e-wallets and 6 national QR payment schemes. Over 90% of its offline merchant network is made up of SMEs.

In trade, WorldFirst also supported over 1.4 million SMEs across 200+ markets, handling around US$100b in cross-border payments. Additionally, Antom Copilot, a new AI-powered payment assistant, reduces payment integration time by 90%.

Moreover, Ant International, through embedded finance, is using AI to make cross-border trade smoother and more predictable. Its Falcon FX Model helps SMEs cope with cross-border liquidity volatility more effectively, with an hourly demand prediction accuracy of over 90%.

Inclusive future

As trust is one of the company’s core pillars, it works with more than 1,000 financial institutions and regulators to create a digital ecosystem that’s not just innovative, but also secure and responsible.

Its 10x1000 Tech for Inclusion Programme has trained 7,157 talents from 110 countries, an effort that helped bridge the global digital skills gap.

To learn more about Ant International, visit https://www.ant-intl.com/.

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