Ant Financial to share full suite of AI capabilities with asset management companies

HANGZHOU, China--(Antara/BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ant Financial Services Group ("Ant Financial" or "the Company") today announced that the Company will share a full suite of AI capabilities with asset management companies in China to support their digital transformation. Following its successful launch last year, Caifuhao, an AI-powered corporate account on the Ant Fortune platform, has brought tangible benefits to 27 fund management companies.

"By combining Ant Financial's AI technologies with the capabilities of asset management companies in investor education and fund management, together we are making customized wealth management services more accessible for ordinary users," said Eric Jing, Executive Chairman and CEO of Ant Financial.

With the support of AI-powered services offered by their Caifuhao account, including operational optimization, content generation, compliance and risk management, 27 fund management companies have been able to increase their operational efficiency by 70% while reducing their overall costs by 50%. Additional benefits include a 10-fold increase in the number of daily visitors, a three-fold increase in the amount invested by returning customers, and an 89% increase in the holding period among all investors. Asset management companies that have set up a Caifuhao account include Minsheng Royal Fund Management Co., Ltd., China Asset Management Co., Ltd., and Bank of Communications Schroder Fund Management Co., Ltd.

In the past, asset management companies in China lacked sufficient insights into their customers as well as cost-effective channels to reach them, limiting the ability of these companies to provide value-added services such as investor education and customized wealth management products. Launched in 2017, AI-powered Caifuhao corporate accounts on the Ant Fortune platform provide fund managers with a channel to better connect and engage with users to build their own brands.

"China's asset management industry is experiencing an incredible digital transformation, with customer service becoming increasingly more important than sales functions," said Guoming Zu, Vice President of Ant Financial's Wealth Management Business Group, at the Ant Fortune Partners Summit held in Beijing on June 19, 2018. "With our proven track record of supporting financial institutions, Ant Financial is ready to share full suite of AI capabilities to ecosystem partners in the asset management industry."

More than 100 asset management companies have signed up to join the Ant Fortune platform since its inception in 2015, representing over 90% of all fund management companies in China. This has resulted in more than 4,000 wealth management products being made available to tens of millions of individual Ant Fortune users.

Sharing technological capabilities that allow other businesses to better serve customers has been part of Ant Financial's DNA since the birth of Alipay in 2004. After opening up its payments services to a wide range of online and offline businesses, Ant Financial announced an "Internet Booster" plan in 2015 to support the digital transformation of traditional financial institutions by sharing Ant Financial's technological capabilities.

In recent months, Ant Financial has accelerated its pace of opening up its technological capabilities to financial institutions. Banks including Huaxia Bank, China Everbright Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China CITIC Bank, and Bank of Tianjin have signed strategic cooperation agreements with Ant Financial to support the banks' digital transformation.

Launched in 2015, Ant Fortune serves as a comprehensive wealth management platform that caters to individual consumers with little financial management expertise. In the past, a vast majority of wealth management products were designed for high-net worth investors and portfolio management which requires both time and expertise. Ant Fortune aims to provide investment options for those who have little time or know-how to increase their wealth by lowering the threshold of participation.

On June 14, 2017, Ant Fortune launched Caifuhao, a corporate account on the Ant Fortune platform for financial institutions. By June 2018, a total of 27 asset management companies had opened Caifuhao accounts to better connect and engage with end users.

By opening a Caifuhao on Ant Fortune, financial institutions gain access to Ant Financial's AI capabilities, including better user connectivity, user profiling, operational optimization and smart marketing. These capabilities translate into increased operational efficiency and reduced costs.

Ant Financial Services Group is dedicated to using technology to bring the world equal opportunities. Our technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, security, Internet of Things and computing, empower us and our ecosystem partners to serve the unbanked and underbanked, bringing more secure, transparent, cost-effective and inclusive financial services to individuals and SMEs worldwide.

Ant Financial has formed international partnerships with global strategic partners to serve local users in those markets, and we serve Chinese travelers overseas by connecting Alipay with online and offline merchants in popular destinations. By the end of March 2018, together with its global JV partners, Ant Financial served 870 million users worldwide. Brands under Ant Financial Services Group include Alipay, Ant Fortune, Zhima Credit, MYbank and Ant Financial Cloud.

For more information on Ant Financial, please visit our website at www.antfin.com or follow us on Twitter @AntFinancial.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006514/en/

Bell Wang, +86 13810385201

International Communications

yixing.wl@antfin.com

or

Le Shen, +86 13910467197

International Communications

shenle.sl@antfin.com