Ant Group has appointed its senior vice president, Peng Yang, as president of the company’s International Business Group (IBG).
Yang will report to Eric Jing, chairman and CEO of Ant Group, and is tasked to lead the the company’s international growth and further solidify partnerships, Ant Group said in a Friday (July 21) press release.
Angel Zhao, who led the IBG team since she was appointed president in 2019, is stepping down from the role due to family reasons but will still work closely with Jing on strategic planning, according to the release.
Before joining IBG in February to lead Alipay+ global business lines, Yang led innovation and growth for Alipay’s digital life services, the release said. Before that, he served as vice president of Dell Technologies, where he gained experience in cross-market and cross-cultural management.
Jing said in the announcement: “We strive to enable global consumers to enjoy seamless payment experiences around the world with one home e-wallet, and merchants to build greater international success with one integrated World Account that offers a full set of global digital funds management and credit services. With a firm commitment to openness and collaboration, we look forward to seeing our International Business Group seizing the strategic opportunities and achieving more critical breakthroughs towards this vision.”
Since the start of 2023, the IBG has grown and the Alipay+ business now connects over 2.5 million global merchants to 1 billion Asian consumers, according to the press release. In addition, the Business+ team has provided funds management and credit services to over 1 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), allowing them to take advantage of lucrative cross-border eCommerce opportunities.
Ant Group and Alipay have announced several partnerships and developments in recent months.
On July 3, Alipay and Milan-based payments company Tinaba expanded their partnership to help Italian travelers make payments in Asia. With the expansion, Tinaba customers can pay with their cellphones and in their own language.
Two weeks earlier, on June 21, Alipay and Mastercard teamed up to offer a new payment option for international visitors to China, allowing them to go cashless while traveling around the country. This partnership allows overseas card transactions completed on the Alipay digital wallet to be processed through Mastercard’s omnichannel payments platform.