Story
Ant Group to Merge Alipay, Payments, and Credit Units in AI Commerce Push
Summary
The Chinese fintech giant is consolidating its Alipay, Digital Payments, and Zhima Credit divisions into a new business group to accelerate its strategy in artificial intelligence-driven commerce, according to media reports.
Ant Group is undertaking a significant organizational restructuring to integrate its core financial services and bolster its capabilities in artificial intelligence-driven commerce, according to Chinese media reports on Tuesday citing an internal memo.
Strategic Overhaul
The fintech affiliate of Alibaba will merge three of its key divisions—Alipay, Digital Payments, and Zhima Credit—into a single, newly formed unit called the Alipay Business Group. According to the staff memo from CEO Han Xinyi, Ant’s current Chief People Officer, Wu Minzhi, will take on the additional role of president for the new group.
The restructuring is designed to consolidate the company's technology, products, and ecosystem resources. Han stated in the memo that the move will also strengthen its merchant service system, creating a more unified front for its commercial offerings.
The Push into AI Commerce
AdThis strategic shift is explicitly aimed at advancing Ant Group's ambitions in AI. Han noted that agentic commerce—a term for AI-powered, autonomous commercial activity—is now ready for large-scale expansion. The company believes it has laid the groundwork for this pivot through significant investments over the past three years.
Key foundational technologies developed during this period include:
- AI payment systems
- AI wallet technology and agent trust mechanisms
- The personal life assistant, Abao
- Offline tap-to-connect services
- Multi-terminal ecosystems
By unifying its core units, Ant Group aims to better leverage these AI foundations to create more sophisticated and integrated services for both consumers and merchants on its massive Alipay platform.
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