Exclusive | TechFin: Jack Ma coins term to set Alipay’s goal to give emerging markets access to capital

Jack Ma, founder of the world’s largest e-commerce platform, has coined a new phrase to define the mission of Alipay to help more young people, small companies and poor nations gain access to capital, advocating a concept of “techfin” to turn the trendy “fintech” on its head.

“Fintech takes the original financial system and improves its technology,” said Ma during Friday’s China Conference organised by the South China Morning Post. “TechFin is to rebuild the system with technology. What we want to do is to solve the problem of a lack of inclusiveness.”

Ant Financial Services Group, backed by Ma’s Alibaba Group Holdings, would rather strive to provide equitable payment systems and access to capital for emerging economies like India, the Philippines and Malaysia, instead of focusing on competing in developed markets like Europe and the United States, he said.

The Alipay service, which boasts 450 million registered users, has its largest market in China, where it runs third-party payments and e-wallet services.

Ant Financial last September invested US$680 million in Indian e-wallet company Paytm in its first significant foreign expansion efforts as it sought to expand its digital financial services abroad.

In November, Ant Financial partnered with Thailand’s fintech firm Ascend Money, which also runs a digital wallet service. Under the agreement, Ant Financial will assist Ascend Money to grow its online and offline payments and financial services ecosystem.