Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Ant Financial’s Strategy for AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity and more

Chris Skinner Author Avatar
by

I’ve been flying around a bit and was lucky enough to find myself onstage the other day, chairing the Ant Financial Technology Forum at Money20/20 Singapore. I was honoured to accept to be the moderator of the afternoon and guess I was chosen because Alipay and Ant Financial are a 30,000 word in-depth case study in new book, Digital Human.

There were several standout moments during the afternoon. For example, Ant Financial have more blockchain patents than any other company in the world and they have the most live blockchain-based production systems.

Another one I noted was the payments game Ant Forest that offsets carbon emissions. The game works by encouraging you to do things for a greener planet. For example, if you walk to the office rather than drive, you get credits. This has been incredibly successful. It is the world’s largest gaming system with over 250 million players who, in just 15 months, managed to offset enough carbon to plant over 13 million trees saving 1.22 tonnes of emissions. That’s an amazing story and is covered in-depth in my new book.

What really struck me is how candid the guys are with their internal developments. During the course of the afternoon, the leaders of the artificial intelligence, blockchain, cybersecurity and other areas each took to the stage and shared their ideas and developments.

Most of what they presented, if it were an American company, would have been under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). It would be top secret and not shared openly without lots of contract signatures and background checks. Not so with Ant Financial. These guys just took to the stage and shared everything. I guess it’s because, by the time someone else has worked out what they’re doing, it’s going to be too late to catch-up.

So I asked if I could have the slides to share here and, guess what? The answer was yes. So, without the explanation, here’s the slide decks on Ant Financial’s strategic plans in these key technology areas.

Enjoy!

The day began with Cheng Li's, Ant Financial's Chief Technology Officer and star interviewee in my new book.

This was followed by specific presentations on the technology building blocks for Ant Financial's future, starting with Artificial Intelligence for better analytics of customer habits for security and marketing purposes with Xiaolong Li.

After AI, a look into blockchain with Danqing Hu, who heads up their blockchain developments.

Then a discussion of their cybersecurity plans with Wenbiao Zhao.

And a concluding presentation about how challenging it is to keep up with all these technology changes with Zhenyu Guo.

Chris Skinner Author Avatar

Chris M Skinner

Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...

Intelligent Money: Our Future Is Where We Do Not Think About Money, As Our Money Thinks For Us

What is the future?

Learn more

Learn more about Chris

About Chris Skinner

The Past, Present And Future Of Banking, Finance And Technology

Fintech expert Chris Skinner: countries need digital transformation to remain competitive

Join me on Linkedin

Follow Me on X!

Hire Chris Skinner for dinners, workshops and more

Learn directly from from one of the most influential people in technology, gain insights from the world's most innovative companies, and build a global network.

Chris’s latest book

Order now

Chris Skinner’s ‘Intelligent Money’ Book Launch Event

Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Finance 2024

Global Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award

Global 100 - 2024 Winner

Chris Skinner - Financial Markets Advisor of the Year - The Finanser - UK 2023

Best Financial Markets Advisor of the Year 2023

30 Best Regtech Blogs and Websites 2023

Kids creating the future bank | TEDxAthens

Captain Cake and the Candy Crew

Captain Cake Winner of a Golden Mom’s Choice Award

TWO-TIME WINNER OF A MOM’S CHOICE GOLD AWARD!

Alex at the Financial Services

Gaping Void's Hugh MacLeod worked with the Finanser