Ant Group makes international arm an independent unit, promotes veteran finance chief to president in reorganisation
- Ant International, OceanBase, and Ant Digital Technologies will each set up a board of directors as independently-operated business units
- Cyril Han Xinyi, a 10-year veteran and Ant Group’s chief financial officer since 2020, will be promoted to president, reporting to Ant’s CEO Eric Jing
Ant Group, the fintech giant affiliated with Alibaba Group Holding, is restructuring its operations into several independently-run business units, and will promote its finance chief to president, in the most significant reorganisation since its initial public offering (IPO) was halted in late 2020.
The overhaul, the details of which are contained in a letter to Ant employees seen by the Post, comes after a period in which Ant paid a hefty fine of nearly US$1 billion for regulatory violations, boosted the capital base at its credit unit and distanced itself from Alibaba co-founder and former chairman Jack Ma. Alibaba also owns the Post.
Its overseas unit Ant International, database operation OceanBase, as well as Ant Digital Technologies, will become three independent business units with their own boards of directors, paving the way for fully-fledged spin-offs down the road, according to the letter. The move is expected to spur growth and incentivise innovation.
The three companies will roll out their own employee share option programmes, which will be “more compatible with their start-up status”, according to the letter. For the time being, Ant Group remains the holding company.
Cyril Han Xinyi, a 10-year Ant veteran and chief financial officer since 2020, will be promoted to president, reporting to group chairman and chief executive Eric Jing Xiandong, according to the letter. Han, who has been with the group since 2014, will be responsible for payments, connectivity and the digital finance business, the letter states.
