Ant Group is a business unit within Alibaba Group and a technology company originating from Alipay. Founded in 2004, it aims to build a global internet platform connecting online sellers and buyers, providing comprehensive and convenient financial and digital services to consumers and SME merchants, enabling seamless payments, receipts, and money transfers worldwide.
Meanwhile, Krungthai Bank, where the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) holds a majority stake of 55.07%, has transformed its operations from a traditional state bank to employing digital technology in its workflow and financial services.
Recently, Surapong Tantiyanon, President of Retail Banking at Krungthai Bank, along with Thawatchai Cheewanont, President of Product & Business Solutions, led a Thai media delegation to visit Ant Group’s headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, located in eastern People's Republic of China.
This visit was another opportunity to gain experience studying the growth from a FinTech business to a Tech Company encompassing many dimensions of people's lives.
Looking back to 2020, Krungthai Bank restructured its organization and portfolio, shifting focus from serving large corporate and SME clients to emphasizing Retail Business as a core sector, under a Digital Transformation strategy and upgrading the “Krungthai NEXT” application to better meet retail financial service needs. Post-COVID-19, the roles of “Paotang” and “Tung Ngern” apps, which serve as Open Platforms accessible for various public activities, became increasingly prominent.
Surapong stated that Krungthai Bank’s key mission today is framed by the concept Better Life for All Thais, meaning the bank’s operations aim to improve the lives of Thai people. For example, through the Paotang app, users can check their eligibility for government-provided medicine; retail customers can invest in government bonds starting from 1 baht or save in gold, among other services.
Currently, Krungthai Bank operates 960 branches and serves 21 million users on the Krungthai NEXT app, 40 million on the Paotang app, 23 million on Krungthai LINE Connect, with 2 million small merchants using the Tung Ngern platform, and 73,000 business clients in its portfolio.
By 2026, after obtaining a Virtual Bank operating license and partnering with two companies—Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited (ADVANC) and PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company Limited (OR)—Krungthai Bank established Clicks Bank Public Company Limited, registered in August 2025, to operate as a Virtual Bank.
This development represents a significant step for Krungthai Bank to extend financial services more broadly, especially to groups that have not yet accessed traditional financial services.
Sittipong Kittiprapapong, General Manager of Global Merchant Partnership for Thailand at Ant Group, said that currently Ant Group serves over 1.8 billion people worldwide through 40 wallets covering four main businesses:
1. Alipay+ — a wallet gateway service for general retail users.
2. Antom — a payment and money transfer system for small business operators.
3. Bettr — financial services using AI and Blockchain for credit management.
4. WorldFirst — financial solutions for SMEs.
An example of connecting consumers with merchants: recently, the Alipay+ wallet under Ant International partnered with National ITMX Company Limited (NITMX), a national payment infrastructure provider regulated by the Bank of Thailand, to expand Cross-Border QR Payment services between Thailand and China. Alipay+ is one of the three major Chinese payment providers participating in this project with NITMX, enabling Chinese tourists to scan and pay via PromptPay QR codes directly at shops across Thailand.
However, as technology businesses and financial institutions become integrated, financial services will increasingly improve user convenience. Importantly, “security” in service provision remains a major topic that all stakeholders must balance carefully.
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