Ant Group Appoints CFO Han Xinyi as Group President

On March 19th, Ant Group Chairman and CEO Eric Jing issued a company-wide memo announcing a new round of organizational restructuring. Eric Jing will serve as Chairman of Ant International, while Han Xinyi will assume the role of Ant Group President, overseeing all aspects of digital payments, digital connectivity, and digital financial services. Ant International, Ant Financial, and the cloud database OceanBase will each have their own board of directors, operating independently in the market, with Yang Peng, Yang Bing, and Zhao Wenbiao appointed as CEOs respectively.

Public records indicate that Han Xinyi graduated from the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University with bachelor's and master's degrees. He joined Ant Group in May 2014, serving as Senior Director of the Investment Department. In April 2020, he assumed the role of CFO of Ant Group. In January 2023, Han Xinyi joined the board of directors as an executive director. Additionally, he has previously held positions as Senior Director of Corporate Finance at Alibaba Group and General Manager of Tianhong Fund. Over his years at Ant Group, Han Xinyi has been deeply involved in the group's operations, playing a significant role in strategic decision-making. Analysts believe his appointment as Group President is a natural progression.

In the memo, Eric Jing stated that the organizational adjustment aims to further advance the pace of reform and accelerate the implementation of Ant's three major strategies: "AI First," "Alipay Dual Engines," and "Accelerated Globalization." This implies that following the framework adjustment, the group will make more strategic investments in the Alipay business. Since 2022, Alipay has undergone reforms and developed two major business sectors: digital payments and digital connectivity. By focusing on continuous innovation in payment products and addressing the digital needs of internet users and merchants, a new commercial ecosystem has been formed through contentization and digitalization.

In addition to Alipay, adjustments have been made to the group's technological ecosystem and globalization strategy. Based on technological innovation and globalization strategies, Ant Group has launched various business sectors such as Ant International, Ant Digital Technology, and OceanBase in recent years. According to the contents of the company-wide memo, these three companies have introduced equity incentive tools more suitable for entrepreneurial organizations, scheduled to be implemented in 2024, allowing employees to have a stronger connection to business development while taking on greater responsibilities.

From the information revealed in the company-wide memo, this adjustment overall continues Ant's strategy of reshaping its organizational structure towards market orientation and promoting the youthfulness of its management team. With the new organizational framework, Ant will provide support in governance, technology, risk management, and other areas to ensure the long-term sustainable development of its subsidiary companies, further stimulating the vitality of the group.