According to a December 8 email sent to employees, Cyril Han Xinyi, Ant Group’s current president and chief financial officer, will replace Eric Jing Xiandong as CEO on March 1 of next year. Jing will remain the company’s group chairman.

“In the decade since he joined Alipay in 2014,” Jind said in the employee email, “Cyril has made important contributions to the group’s development with strategic acumen, dedication and professionalism. Cyril has won deep trust and recognition from the entire team with his modesty, candour, selflessness and fairness. I am 100 percent confident that Cyril will lead the team to scale new, exciting heights beyond our expectations.”

Han’s Professional Career and Promotion to CEO

Han’s promotion was announced on the 20th anniversary of Alipay and Ant Group. He will take over the role that Jing has held since 2016. Before joining Ant Group in 2014, Han was an investment banker at China International Capital Corp for ten years. After that, he joined Alibaba Group Holding in 2011 as part of the finance department. After six years at Ant Group, he became its CFO in April 2020. Three years later, he became the company’s executive director.

“Powering this 20-year journey of perseverance, resilience and glory, is the relay of our passion and vision from one generation of Ant teammates to another,” Jing continued. “Across critical battle positions, a younger generation of leaders are stepping up to take on strategic responsibilities. They know the future better, and they have greater strengths to create the future.”

About Ant Group and the Alipay Platform

Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group, is China’s biggest mobile payment system operator and owns the digital payment platform Alipay. 

As of September 2024, the platform recorded over 640 million monthly active users in China alone, more than a third of the country’s total population. Alipay controlled 55% of China’s mobile payments market in 2023, with Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay holding a 37% market share.

Alibaba Group earned $353 million in profit from Ant Group between the beginning of this year and September 30, based almost entirely on its 33% equity stake. This is an increase of more than $115 million compared to the same period in 2023. With China projected to process over $12.8 trillion in digital payments in 2029 and already processing $8.6 trillion this year, Alibaba’s stake in Ant Group is undoubtedly paying off.

Ant Group’s New Innovations

In July of this year, Ant Group introduced Alipay Tap, a contactless payment service similar to Apple Pay. This service has been adopted by 2,300 merchants, including McDonalds and Family Mart. 

Also this year, Ant Group launched a stand-alone artificial intelligence (AI) application called Zhixiaobao, marking a further push into customer services. The app is intended to serve as a virtual healthcare and financial assistant, reflecting a broader initiative to provide large language models (LLMs) as customer services.

Ant International, Alipay+, and the Future of Ant Group

Ant Group also operates a global business unit in Singapore known as Ant International, which includes Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst, and Embedded Finance. Alipay+ is one of the most notable businesses, with significant growth in 2024. As of November of this year, It is a cross-border mobile payment and digitalization technology solution, connecting over 90 million merchants in 66 markets to 1.6 billion user accounts. The app collaborates with 35 payment partners.

“Today opens a new decade for Ant Group,” Jing said in the email. “This surely will be an even more exciting and inspiring journey of innovation and adventure.”