DBS and Ant International have moved to expand their longstanding strategic relationship, signing a new agreement to pursue a broader range of joint initiatives in payments, digitisation and fintech. The two sides aim to widen access to financial tools for businesses of different sizes across the region, as well as for individual consumers. The signing took place during the Singapore Fintech Festival 2025, where senior leaders from both organisations, including Tan Su Shan, CEO of DBS, Loy Hwee Chuan, Segment Head of Telecommunications, Media & Tech, Hong Kong and GBA, DBS, Edward Yue, Alipay+ General Manager for SEA, ANZ and South Asia at Ant International, and Peng Yang, CEO of Ant International, were present. Building on work already underway between the institutions, the collaboration will draw on DBS’ digital banking strengths and Ant International’s technologies in areas such as AI and blockchain, with the intention of scaling cross-border payment capabilities, improving connectivity and catalysing new solutions within the financial ecosystem.
A major component of the DBS and Ant International agreement centres on expanding cross-border payments connectivity: DBS PayLah! will become part of the Alipay+ ecosystem, making it possible for more than three million DBS PayLah! customers to pay by QR code at over 150 million merchants in more than 100 markets. Another area currently being explored by both organisations is a bank-to-wallet pathway that would support near-instant remittances between DBS users and more than 1.8 billion consumer accounts in the Alipay+ ecosystem. This prospective solution is based on ISO 20022 messaging standards and will utilise the SWIFT network, with further efforts underway to streamline and enhance remittance flows.
Support for SMEs is also a central feature of the partnership, with DBS set to collaborate with Antom to examine digitisation solutions based on capabilities such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP)-driven Antom Agentic Payment solution. DBS will additionally work with WorldFirst to extend same-day and near-instant cross-border services for SME customers. Both DBS and Ant International reaffirmed their intention to deepen earlier work involving tokenised deposits, underscoring their shared commitment to supporting innovation across the regional fintech landscape.
Tan Su Shan, CEO of DBS, added: “DBS is pleased to have the privilege to expand our partnership with Ant International. They are a truly like-minded partner in purpose-driven innovation, having demonstrated a shared vision for leveraging cutting-edge technology to create more efficient and inclusive financial ecosystems. By synergising our strengths, we can unlock new avenues for growth, accelerate future-ready solutions like tokenised deposits and agentic payments – and reimagine the future of finance to drive greater impact for our clients and customers.”