HANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ant Group today published its 2024 Sustainability Report, highlighting its enhanced AI investments in advancing broad-based digital transformation. The report also shares how the group's sustainability commitments are carried onto new journeys of Ant International, Ant Digital Technologies, and OceanBase, three units that became independent following the 2024 reorganization.
The Report lays out how Ant Group harnessed new technology tools, expanded partnerships in 2024 to strengthen its 4 sustainability pillars: Technological Innovation, AI-Powered Digital Inclusion, Green and Low-Carbon Development, and Openness & Trustworthiness.
“2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Alipay and Ant Group. Over the past two decades, we have remained committed to leveraging innovation to make quality services more accessible for small entrepreneurs and ordinary consumers, so that the business and the life they treasure may flourish because of the work we do,” wrote Eric Jing, Chairman of Ant Group and Cyril Han, CEO of Ant Group in a letter at the beginning of the Report. “Technology matters not only when it soars above the stars, but even more when it puts light and warmth across our streets and neighborhoods. At the dawn of the age of AI, we are empowered to do more and better for small businesses and individuals.”
Technological Innovation
To drive continuous innovation for consumers, SMEs and partners, Ant Group has increased R&D investment for four consecutive years since 2021, reaching a record high of RMB 23.45 billion (~USD 3.26 billion) in 2024 (up 10.7% YoY).1
- 130 million users have accessed the Company’s AI-powered services connecting them with providers in healthcare, finance and everyday services. (43% from lower-tier cities)
- 24,000+ businesses adopted Ant’s enterprise solutions (AI, blockchain, distributed databases) to improve operational efficiency.
- 2,000+ open-source repositories released to support developers.
AI-Powered Digital Inclusion
In 2024, Ant Group has made AI-powered services more accessible for its users, in sectors including healthcare, fintech and cross-border commerce.
AI healthcare solutions for hospitals, doctors and users
- By harnessing AI, Ant Group has been enhancing operational efficiency, personalizing patient care, and empowering medical institutions, doctors, and insurers to deliver more effective and tailored healthcare solutions.
- AI healthcare app “AQ”: 70 million+ users by June 2025.
- AI medical insurance assistant: 80% faster claim processing for insurers.
Digital payment & finance for SMEs
- With digital payment and finance innovation, Ant Group, together with its affiliates, has served more than 100 million SMEs.
- Following QR code payment in 2011 and Smile-to-Pay in 2018, Ant Group launched Alipay Tap! in July 2024, a QR code-based contactless payment and customer engagement solution. As of April 2025, Alipay Tap! has won over 100 million users in just 11 months. FamilyMart’s member orders rose by 40% within the first month of Alipay Tap! integration.
- Alipay’s AI-enhanced merchant services further reduce costs and boost efficiency. In 2024, the annual transaction volume of merchant operated mini-programs grew 39% YoY.
New advances in sustainability from 3 independently operated businesses
Ant Digital Technologies, OceanBase and Ant International, the three businesses that have been operating independently since 2024 have been making steady progress in sustainability.
Supporting the digital & green transformation of industries - Ant Digital Technologies:
- AntChain's trusted on-chain technology has been widely applied across the new energy sector, including electric vehicles, batteries, and photovoltaic panels, with over 12 million devices cumulatively connected to its blockchain.
- In December 2024, GCL Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a leader in the clean energy sector successfully completed the first-ever Real World Asset Tokenization (RWA) issuance in China's photovoltaic industry, securing 200 million yuan in cross-border financing, proving that physical assets can be digitized and financed on the blockchain.
Making AI-ready distributed database accessible for enterprise clients - OceanBase:
- Expanded number of clients from over 1,000 to over 2,000 (100% YoY).
- Distributed database products have been upgraded to meet the database demand of the AI era, widely adopted across industries including finance, telecommunications, retail, Internet, and public services.
Enabling global connections in travel, empowering global commerce in trade and enabling the underserved to thrive - Ant International:
- In travel, Alipay+ has enabled inclusive and affordable payment options for more than 100 million businesses in over 70 tourist destination markets.
- In trade, WorldFirst has enabled over 1.2 million SMEs to sell their products and services across more than 200 markets with its one-stop cross-border account and treasury services.
- In 2024, AI-powered Credit Tech solutions, ANEXT Bank and Ant Bank (Hong Kong) helped extend lending and other inclusive financial services to over 15 million users in emerging markets, mostly from the SME community.
- For more details on Ant International’s sustainability progress, please refer to Ant International 2024 Sustainability Report.
“Integrating commercial and social value creation isn't just our choice when we started – it is our guiding North Star,” wrote Sabrina Peng, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant Group. “Meaningful change grows in daily action, not in words. By integrating commercial and social value creation, we hope to do our part in building a better world – especially for the general public and small businesses.”
Note: Since 2017, Ant Group has been publishing an annual sustainability report, following the Global Reporting Initiative standards. All figures in the release are as of December 31, 2024 unless otherwise specified. The 2024 Sustainability Report is available in Chinese. The English-language version will be available on Ant Group’s official website soon.
About Ant Group
Ant Group aims to build the infrastructure and platforms to support the digital transformation of the service industry. Through continuous innovation, we strive to provide all consumers and small and micro businesses equal access to digital financial and other daily life services that are convenient, sustainable and inclusive.
For more information, please visit our website at www.antgroup.com or follow us on Twitter @AntGroup.
|
|
Contacts
Media inquiries:
Rosa Lei
leiyutian.lyt@antgroup.com