Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim officiated the opening of Ant International’s new development centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The Global Development Centre is located at The Exchange 106 in TRX.
It will support Ant International’s work in AI, digital payments, SME digitalisation and financial technology.
Ant International has around 1,500 fintech roles in Malaysia, with more than half in technology-related positions.
About half of its local technology team are recent graduates from more than 30 Malaysian universities.
The company plans to work with the government, the Ministry of Higher Education and local universities to support financial AI talent development through hackathons, training and curriculum development.
Malaysia Push Builds on Partners and Licence Approval
The centre builds on Ant International’s work with Malaysian partners including CIMB, TNG Digital and PayNet.
With CIMB and TNG Digital, Ant International has supported the development of Touch ’n Go eWallet, which serves more than 26 million consumers and businesses.
Through Alipay+ and PayNet, international travellers can use supported overseas e-wallets and banking apps to pay Malaysian merchants through DuitNow QR.
In the first half of 2026, more than 600,000 merchants received payments from an Alipay+ partner, up more than 70% year-on-year.
Traveller spending through DuitNow rose more than 60% over the same period, as Malaysia prepares for Visit Malaysia 2026.
Ant International also launched EPOS360 with TNG Digital in January 2026. The AI-as-a-Service platform now supports more than 14,000 Malaysian SMEs.
WorldFirst, Ant International’s global accounts service provider, received in-principle approval from Bank Negara Malaysia in 2025 for a Class A Money Services Business licence, with a full Malaysia launch expected soon.
Ant International is also working with CIMB on tokenised deposits and treasury solutions for cross-border payments and liquidity management.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Malaysia, based on image by The Exchange 106
