Cyril Han to Take Over as Ant Group CEO in March 2025

Cyril Han, Ant Group’s President and current Chief Financial Officer, will step into the role of CEO on 1 March 2025, according to Bloomberg.

Han will succeed Eric Jing, who will remain the company’s chairman. He will continue to report to Jing and the board of directors.

This leadership transition comes as Ant Group sharpens its focus on growth through its Alipay platform, artificial intelligence (AI), and its global business expansion.

The company is leveraging AI-driven solutions to enhance its offerings in areas like dining, ride-hailing, entertainment, healthcare, and finance.

Ant International, the group’s global arm headquartered in Singapore, has reported significant growth across its four main business pillars: Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst, and Embedded Finance.

These services aim to support businesses of all sizes, particularly small and micro-sized enterprises (SMEs), in their digital transformation and financial inclusion efforts.

Alipay+, Ant International’s cross-border payment platform, connects over 90 million merchants in 66 markets to 1.6 billion user accounts through partnerships with 35 e-wallets and national QR code schemes, including Singapore’s SGQR and Malaysia’s PayNet.

Notably, more than 90% of these merchants are SMEs, underscoring Ant’s focus on inclusive digital transformation.

Alipay+ also reported a threefold increase in cross-border transactions in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Antom, the merchant payment and digitization service, has seen its total payment volume nearly double year-on-year.

Innovations such as Antom Copilot, which reduces payment channel integration time to just a few minutes, and Antom EasySafePay, which simplifies digital wallet transactions, have contributed to improved efficiency and success rates for merchants.

WorldFirst, a platform offering digital payment and financial services for global businesses, has surpassed US$300 billion in cumulative transaction volume and continues to demonstrate strong growth momentum.

Ant International also provides credit and lending solutions to underserved SMEs through its Embedded Finance unit, using AI and blockchain technologies.

These initiatives have helped millions of first-time borrowers, over 95% of whom lacked prior credit history.

“We believe travel, trade, technology and talent are key drivers for inclusive and sustainable growth across nations and industries. 2024 has been a transformative year for Ant International and its core businesses.

In 2025, we will continue to be laser-focused on supporting SMEs across borders with AI-powered innovative and trusted digitalisation solutions through expanded public- and private-sector collaboration.”

said Peng Yang, Chief Executive Officer of Ant International.