China’s Ant International seeks expansion in Saudi Arabia

China’s Ant International, a digital innovation and fintech leader, seeks to expand its operations in Saudi Arabia and grow the digital payment market across the region. Therefore, the company has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) to facilitate its business expansion into the Kingdom.

Under the agreement, the ministry will support Ant International’s expansion plan to establish an entity in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, it will assist it with acquiring licenses and certificates to expand and enhance its service offerings.

Meanwhile, Ant International will establish its presence in Saudi Arabia and expand into the Middle East market to further support its plan of expanding the reach of its payment and financial services.

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Services to support trade, business growth

Ant International offers multiple services for global merchants, including cross-border mobile payment, merchant payment services, digital payment and financial services for cross-border trade, and a digital wholesale bank under the regulation of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Commenting on the agreement, Eng. Saleh Khabti, Deputy Minister for Investment at MISA, said: “We are seeing tremendous growth in digital payments in Saudi Arabia and we expect this trend to continue with Ant International’s expansion, which will further boost the financial services sector in the Kingdom.”

Meanwhile, Douglas Feagin, president of Ant International, stated: “We’re delighted to build upon our progress in the Middle East to support merchants’ access to our world-class payment solutions and inclusive financial services.” Feagin also highlighted the importance of this collaboration in providing Saudi businesses with various tools to grow and benefit from international travel and trade.

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