Ant International has released its 2025 Sustainability Report, marking the second report since the company began operating independently and signalling a deeper institutional commitment to embedding sustainability into business performance.

A key highlight of the report is the integration of sustainability metrics into management’s performance evaluation framework for the first time, reinforcing accountability across the organisation.

“Accountability must be structural, not aspirational. When sustainability outcomes are valued as much as revenue growth or operational efficiency, the whole organisation is more likely to align accordingly,” said Eric Jing.

The report outlines progress under the company’s 6Ts Sustainability Framework: Travel, Trade, Thrive, Tech, Talent and Trust, with inclusion positioned as the central objective.

“Our success relies on our ability to innovate for small businesses and emerging markets to thrive amid social and technological shifts. Doing great by doing good should be our strategic differentiator,” said Peng Yang and Douglas Feagin at the report’s launch.

Ant International’s payments ecosystem continues to scale globally, with Alipay+ and Antom connecting 2 billion user accounts to more than 150 million merchants. The network now links over 10 national QR systems and supports more than 300 payment methods across 220 markets.

Meanwhile, its embedded finance and global account services, including WorldFirst and Bettr, support over 1.6 million SMEs and provide credit access to 30 million MSMEs and underserved users.

The report identifies three major sustainability priorities for 2025: democratising AI for SMEs and emerging markets, strengthening trust through compliance and security, and digitalising public participation for social impact.

Under its AI agenda, Ant International expanded several tools aimed at improving accessibility to advanced financial technologies. These include Antom Copilot 2.0 for automated payment workflows, the Antom Agentic Payment Solution for AI-driven transactions, and its FinAI-as-a-Service platform, which enables fintech partners such as Touch 'n Go eWallet and easypaisa to develop AI commerce solutions.

The company also introduced EPOS360, an AI-powered SME operations and financing platform for Southeast Asia, alongside open-sourced AI foreign exchange forecasting tools delivering prediction accuracy of up to 93 per cent.

On trust and compliance, Ant International reported significant investment in anti-money laundering and fraud prevention technologies. Its SHIELD 3-in-1 Transformer model, powered by seven billion parameters, identifies high-risk transactions with over 95 per cent precision while increasing payment success rates by up to 13.5 per cent.

The company also expanded partnerships through its Digital Wallet Guardian initiative and strengthened privacy capabilities through its Privacy Enhancing Technology programme, recognised by the Singapore Personal Data Protection Commission.

Beyond business innovation, Ant International continued to drive social impact initiatives globally. These included digital fundraising through AlipayHK, marine conservation efforts in Indonesia through Ocean Buddy, and continued expansion of the 10x1000 Tech for Inclusion initiative, developed in partnership with International Finance Corporation.

Since 2018, the programme has certified 9,504 learners globally, with women accounting for 55 per cent of participants.

“Sustainability is increasingly becoming our primary driver of responsible innovation,” said Leiming Chen. “As we expand globally, our progress must remain inclusive, measurable and impactful for the communities we serve.”