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Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing Outlines Strategy for Inclusive AI, Collaboration on Tokenised Settlement

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  • AI-as-a-Service applications will make AI virtual CFO and COO for SMEs
  • Public-private collaboration in regulatory sandboxes help to provide clarity and certainty when it comes to new technology like tokenisation and AI


SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 November 2025 – Eric Jing, Chairman of Ant Group, said the company’s focus is on putting new payment and operation tools powered by AI and tokenisation technology in the hands of SMEs, to fully embrace the next wave of global productivity revolution.

“We are passionate about using frontier technology to support SMEs and the use of AI will really uplift inclusion,” Jing said during a panel discussion titled “Steering the Global Future” during the Singapore FinTech Festival on November 14, 2025.

Jing was joined by Agustín Carstens, Former General Manager, Bank for International Settlements (BIS); Ravi Menon, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN); Ambassador (Climate Action), Singapore & Former Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore, GFTN, and Dr. Razeen Sally who moderated the panel.

Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing (second from right) shares insights during a panel discussion titled “Steering the Global Future” during the Singapore FinTech Festival on November 14, 2025.

From Agentic Payment to Agentic Finance: A Virtual CFO, and COO for SMEs

On the consumer front, Jing expects the rise of personalised AI financial managers and advisors. On the business front, “Agentic payment is one of the most important forces driving agentic commerce and agentic systems,” Jing said. Ant will focus on democratising AI for SMEs at a time when small businesses engaged in global trade face increasingly complex payment and risk environments.

“Many SMEs may not have sophisticated digital skills or a large workforce to support them in doing business, and this is where AI agents can really play a role in helping them to navigate the landscape,” Jing said.

Antom, the merchant payment and digitisation services arm of Ant International, is using Antom Copilot to support payment integration, merchant onboarding, risk management settings, and chargeback response. Copilot cuts payment integration time by over 90%, boosts chargeback winning rates by 3 percentage points, and shortens chargeback resolution time by 46 percent.

During the Singapore FinTech Festival 2025, Antom also launched EPOS360, an app that brings point-of-sale (POS) system, payments, banking, lending, and growth support together to help micro, small and medium‑sized enterprises (MSMEs) move from setup to scale efficiently.

“Agentic AI will act like your COO, your CFO. They are stepping in as virtual financial and operational planners and implementers for SMEs, enabling them to compete globally,” Jing said.

He added that the rise of agentic payments and multi-agent systems are already on track, where autonomous AI agents collaborate to execute complex end-to-end transactions.

Collaboration with MAS on AI and Blockchain is an Exemplar of Public-Private Collaboration

“The tokenisation of money that enables global real-time settlement across borders will be particularly beneficial to SMEs and companies doing global trade,” Jing said. “On such important projects, it is necessary to have policy leadership from regulators like the Monetary Authority of Singapore, who provides institutional clarity and brings together an industry ecosystem of collaboration.”

Ant International’s deep collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) through key initiatives like Project Guardian and PathFin.ai sets an exemplary model of public-private partnership, especially when blockchain and AI have emerged as global themes.

“We are honoured to participate in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s regulatory sandboxes. They provide the clarity and certainty needed to responsibly deploy cutting-edge technologies while managing risks,” said Jing. “This new technology is up and coming, we cannot shy away from it. Instead, the right way is to harness the technology to get the benefits while keeping in mind the potential risks and challenges.”

Under Project Guardian, Ant International has contributed to pilot efforts in tokenised money and cross-border settlements, demonstrating how real-time, transparent and credible blockchain-based payments can benefit SMEs engaged in global trade.

Through MAS’ PathFin.ai programme, Ant International is also actively engaging in knowledge exchange on AI implementations. Jing highlighted Ant International’s Falcon Time-Series Transformer (TST) Model — an 8.5-billion-parameter AI model designed for FX and liquidity forecasting. The model has significantly improved accuracy in predicting cash flow and liquidity, helping businesses reduce hedging costs in today’s volatile global economy.

“Through participating in sandboxes, we see benefits and opportunities to improve our products before rolling them out. It has really been a pleasure to be part of that – MAS is taking a very proactive role and it’s enormously valuable,” said Jing.

Ant International, which became independent in 2024, is headquartered in Singapore. The company now collaborates with over 1,400 institutional partners and provides global payment, settlement and digitisation services to 150 million merchants, and a network of global wallets and national QR schemes that together serve over 1.8 billion consumer accounts.
Hashtag: #AntInternational

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About Ant International

With headquarters in Singapore and main operations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. Through collaboration across the private and public sectors, our unified techfin platform supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth through a comprehensive range of cutting-edge digital payment and financial services solutions. To learn more, please visit https://www.ant-intl.com/

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XTransfer Joins Forum Ekonomi Malaysia 2026

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Signals Plan to Make Malaysia Regional Compliance Hub

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 11 February 2026 – XTransfer, the world’s leading B2B cross-border financial platform, was honoured to be invited to join the Malaysia Economic Forum (Forum Ekonomi Malaysia 2026). Bill Deng, Founder and CEO of XTransfer, shared insights on how Malaysia can accelerate technology application and innovation to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) scale exports under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), during FEM 2026’s panel discussion, “Made by Malaysia: Accelerating Technology Applications & Innovation”.

Bill Deng (second from the right), Founder and CEO of XTransfer, joins as a speaker at Forum Ekonomi Malaysia 2026.

Bill was honoured to join YB Tuan Liew Chin Tong, Deputy Minister of Finance of Malaysia, and Mr Ooi Ching Liang, Senior Director of Engineering at SkyeChip, for a discussion focused on strengthening high-growth, high-value industries, advancing R&D commercialisation, increasing productivity and competitiveness, and supporting MSMEs in global value chains.

Drawing on XTransfer’s work with MSMEs across markets, Bill noted that many Malaysian businesses are “able to export,” but face persistent barriers to scaling exports. The most common issues are trust, compliance, and scale, which often surface as payment delays, repeated documentation requests, FX uncertainty, and working capital pressure as orders grow.

“For B2B SMEs in foreign trade, the biggest constraint isn’t demand. It’s the operational complexity behind cross-border payments, foreign exchange, and compliance,” Bill said. “In particular, AML requirements can be difficult for both traditional banks and SMEs to manage efficiently, creating friction that slows down legitimate trade.”

Bill highlighted a structural shift in global trade flows from a single dominant corridor to non-U.S., intra-Asia, and broader South–South routes. This trend is increasingly clear in real SME transaction patterns. Bill shared, “In 2025, XTransfer’s average collection amount from Asia, Africa, and Latin America grew by 106% year-on-year, with Africa exceeding 270%, Latin America reaching 94%, and ASEAN reaching 82%.” YB Liew noted the trend and thinks it is a direction Malaysia should pursue.

XTransfer also said it plans to establish Malaysia as its regional compliance centre, citing Malaysia’s strong geographic and time-zone advantages, a mature regulatory environment, availability of talent in compliance and risk operations, and cost efficiency. “Malaysia gives us the talent, governance environment, and regional proximity to scale compliance as intra-Asia and emerging-market trade accelerates,” Bill added.
Hashtag: #XTransfer #Malaysia #SMEs #13MP #FEM2026




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CGTN: Little Chinese New Year opens big window to China’s soul

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BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 11 February 2026 – As China marks Xiaonian, or Little Chinese New Year, there is growing evidence of its ancient traditions evolving into global lifestyle trends. CGTN published an article analyzing how this prelude to the Year of the Horse – from the folk ritual of “sweeping the dust” to the cross-cultural fusion of the Spring Festival Gala – illustrates China’s growing global cultural resonance.

As the lunar calendar turns its final pages, China enters a period of joyful anticipation known as Xiaonian, or Little Chinese New Year. Often celebrated as the Festival of the Kitchen God, it marks the official start of the “busy year” – a traditional term for the intense, joyful period of preparing food, cleaning homes, and shopping for the upcoming Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival is a deeply significant time for family reunion. In 2024, UNESCO inscribed the “Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional Chinese New Year” onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

While daily routines continue to evolve, they remain anchored in rituals that provide a sense of normalcy and meaning. It is perhaps no wonder that in a climate of uncertainty, traditional Chinese lifestyles are finding a new audience beyond the country’s borders, with the Spring Festival chief among those unique traditions that are fast becoming a shared human experience.

Diverse traditions, shared aspirations

In a prelude to the broader celebrations, Xiaonian, observed on February 10 and 11 this year, kickstarts a focused period of preparation. According to ancient lore, families offer Zaotang, or sticky “Kitchen Candy,” to the Kitchen God to ensure he delivers a favorable report on the household’s conduct before he ascends to the heavens. This lighthearted tradition marks the beginning of several symbolic rituals aimed at welcoming a fresh start.

A key element of this transition is donning new clothes. In Chinese culture, the New Year represents a moment when “all things are renewed,” and wearing new garments symbolizes shedding the “dust” or misfortunes of the past to embrace auspicious energy for the year ahead. Alongside this personal renewal, families nationwide engage in “sweeping the dust,” a deep-cleaning ritual to purify the home and prepare it for new blessings.

Whereas these practices are universal, celebratory flavors vary by geography. In the north, families traditionally gather over steaming plates of dumplings, whereas in the south, the menu often features sweet rice cakes (Niangao) and glutinous rice balls (Tangyuan).

As Mao Qiaohui, a researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explains, these variations highlight the inclusive nature of Chinese civilization.

“Although folk customs differ between different regions across China, this diversity reflects the cultural pluralism within the Spring Festival tradition,” she notes. “Different regional identities contribute to a shared pursuit of harmony and reunion.”

The vitality of these traditions is also evident in local craftsmanship. In northern regions like Shandong and Henan, artisans are currently making Huamo, decorated steamed buns, featuring horse designs for the upcoming zodiac year. Meanwhile, in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, intangible heritage inheritors are carving spirited stallions onto traditional gourds. These creations reflect the regional diversity of the festival and a collective desire for progress in the year ahead.

Cultural dialogue: From global stage to daily life

The festive atmosphere is reflected further in preparations for the Spring Festival Gala (Chunwan), produced by China Media Group.

Recent rehearsals show performances meshing traditional Chinese culture with international artistry. One performance piece combines the wooden clog dance of the Hani and Lisu ethnic groups with the rhythmic tap of Spanish Flamenco and Hungarian folk dance. And with global stars like Jackie Chan and Lionel Richie on the bill, the Gala’s stage is set to become a stage for the world to come together.

The reach of the gala has expanded far beyond a domestic audience. Through the “Spring Festival Gala Prelude” events held in the United States, Russia, France, Italy, and several African nations, the program has become a gateway to Chinese New Year customs and cultural exchange.

This interest extends beyond art and into the lives of people worldwide, as seen in the #BecomingChinese trend. This phenomenon features international social media users adopting elements of Chinese daily life – such as keeping a thermos of hot water handy, wearing quilted indoor slippers or practicing mindful movement with Baduanjin exercises.

The festival is no longer a distant event but a gateway to Chinese lifestyle, rooted in ancient wellness wisdom and constantly updated by modern convenience, and the first step to a journey of exploration into a culture that values ritual, safety and hospitality.

Whether through global broadcasts or shared daily habits, the Spring Festival increasingly strengthens a sense of cultural empathy between China and the rest of the world.

For more information, please click here:

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-02-10/Little-New-Year-opens-big-window-to-China-s-soul-1KEhJjMX2fe/p.html

Hashtag: #CGTN

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De Beers Group and Assouline Celebrate the Launch of “A Diamond Is Forever: The Making of A Cultural Icon 1926-2026”

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LONDON, UK – Media OutReach Newswire – 11 February 2026 – In the 1930s, De Beers redefined the role of diamonds in society, celebrating them as masterpieces of nature and craftmanship. Before this, diamond jewelry pieces were treasures exchanged discreetly amongst society’s elite, as luxury houses, fearful of diminishing their mystique, fostered only private relationships with their clients. De Beers revealed the wonder of diamonds to a wider audience, shifting the perception of them from luxury item to a gift integral to romantic milestones and aspirational, glamorous lives, as well as a way of marking personal achievement.

De Beers Group And Assouline Celebate The Launch Of “A Diamond Is Forever: The Making Of A Cultural Icon 1926-2026”

When copywriter Frances Gerety captured the diamond’s essence with the phrase “A Diamond Is Forever” in 1947, the declaration enshrined the diamond as a promise of love and endurance, a sentiment resonating far beyond the notion of a simple gift. Gerety’s words, seen on archival advertisements, magazine placements, and celebrity endorsements, reflected the deep cultural connection between diamonds and enduring relationships. Commissioned artwork from artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Raoul Dufy draw a direct line between a diamond’s rarity—each one formed deep within the earth over billions of years—and the creative genius of fine art. By sharing these artistic visions with the world, De Beers revealed the wonder of diamonds—nature’s oldest treasure—to a wider audience, elevating their aura and allure while preserving the sense of rarity and significance that sets them apart.

For a century, the story of diamonds has been one of transformation and continuity. In the 1960s, stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe adorned themselves with diamonds, embodying the elegance and glamour associated with the gemstone. The 1990s “Shadows” campaign, with its evocative pairing of diamonds and the neoclassical composition Palladio by Karl Jenkins, captured the essence of the diamond: authentic, unique, and everlasting.

In recent years, the conversation around diamonds has expanded to include provenance, sustainability, and ethical stewardship, affirming the diamond’s place as a symbol not just of love but of responsibility and conscience. Much like walking through a gallery that traces the evolution of artistic expression, A Diamond Is Forever offers a view into how diamonds have come to embody the shifting ideals and aspirations of society itself.

Hashtag: #DeBeersGroup #NaturalDiamonds #diamonds #ADiamondIsForever #Assouline




The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About De Beers Group

Established in 1888, De Beers Group is the world’s leading diamond company with expertise in the exploration, mining, marketing and retailing of diamonds. Together with its joint venture partners, De Beers Group employs more than 20,000 people across the diamond pipeline and is the world’s largest diamond producer by value, with diamond mining operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. Innovation sits at the heart of De Beers Group’s strategy as it develops a portfolio of offers that span the diamond value chain, including its jewellery houses, De Beers Jewellers and Forevermark, and other pioneering solutions such as diamond sourcing and traceability initiatives Tracr and GemFair. De Beers Group also provides leading services and technology to the diamond industry in the form of education and laboratory services via De Beers Institute of Diamonds and a wide range of diamond sorting, detection and classification technology systems via De Beers Group Ignite. De Beers Group is committed to ‘,’ a holistic and integrated approach for creating a better future – where safety, human rights and ethical integrity continue to be paramount; where communities thrive and the environment is protected; and where there are equal opportunities for all. De Beers Group is a member of the Anglo American plc group. For further information, visit .

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