Ant Financial has revealed a surge to more than 600m users and disclosed for the first time the scale of its wealth management business, in information for potential investors in its latest $10bn fundraising.
The document, seen by the Financial Times and confirmed by two investors, underscores the extent to which the fintech arm of Jack Ma’s internet giant Alibaba dominates online finance in China, as well as the challenge it poses to the country’s banks.
In the memo, Ant claims a rise in user numbers to 622m. Alipay, Ant’s core payments arm, cites 520m users on its website, while an estimate from Barclays for the end of 2017 gave the number at 600m.