Ant International leverages alternative data modelling and advanced tech solutions to expand MSME access to credit with its partners across ASEAN and LatAm
At Money20/20 Asia 2025, Quan highlighted the power of credit tech and local partnerships in driving inclusion and MSME growth in the AI era
Across ASEAN, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMES) make up some 97% of all businesses. These more than 70 million businesses contribute 45% of the economy. As a major engine of economic growth, MSMEs however often lack traditional forms of collateral, such as property or land, and formal financial records. They also face tedious processes and complex paperwork. It’s challenging for them to access financial support. On top of that, their high-risk premiums drive up borrowing costs.
For Quan Yu, General Manager of Credit Services at Ant International, making capital more accessible to small businesses is exactly the type of challenge that she hopes to solve. “While a million-dollar credit line hinges on capital, a hundred-dollar line embodies the technology, innovation, courage, and commitment – the very essence of dedicated SME lending,” said Quan.
Financial technology companies like Ant International are able to fill the gap in the market. Instead of relying solely on traditional metrics, Ant International helps financial institutions and fintech companies leverage alternative data to assess MSMEs.
How Ant International enables lenders to serve more MSMEs
Supported by Ant International’s cutting-edge modelling and algorithms like heterogeneous networks and deep neural networks, financial service providers are able to transform sparse data into reliable credit attributes, enabling more solid creditworthiness evaluations.
These evaluations enable faster and more precise decision-making, and more prudent risk management. MSMEs, in turn, gain access to financial support they previously couldn’t obtain, faster approval to ease urgent funding needs, and more affordable interest rates.
MSME’s financing needs are typically small, frequent, urgent, and short-term. Quan emphasized that Ant international wants to champion MSMEs through the firm’s end-to-end credit tech solutions and embedded lending services: “With ‘Ant’ in our company name, we believe in the power of small and how big the impact will be when the ‘small guys’ are fully supported to realise their potential for growth.”
Driving financial inclusion through technology – the Bangladesh example
In Bangladesh, it has supported bKash, the country’s largest e-wallet with around 60 million users, with its credit tech solutions. Specifically, it helped bKash enhance credit model and risk assessment framework to check garment workers’ eligibility, facilitating their access to government financial support.
In 2020 alone, over 1.5 million garment workers, for the first time, received government subsidies through the bKash app.
bKash also launched Digital Nano, powered by Ant international’s alternative data modelling and intelligence. In a market where the coverage of credit bureau records was limited, Ant international’s credit tech solutions enabled more accurate risk assessment, and opened up financing opportunities for first-time borrowers. Micro-entrepreneurs can apply and receive loans online within seconds, and repayment is done via auto-deductions.
Within the first year of the partnership, bKash expanded the number of eligible customers to more than 30% of its total active user base while maintaining a relatively low risk level.
“Inclusion doesn’t have to mean higher risk. With alternative data intelligence and credit engine, we are able to support our partners to offer and deliver faster, fairer and more inclusive credit offerings,” Quan said.
Now, Quan’s team is working with bKash to go further—enhancing its collection management system and providing business growth advisory, including operational optimization and client growth strategies.
Ant International’s vision for greater financial inclusion
In addition to Bangladesh, Ant International’s credit tech solutions are deployed across countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and beyond.
Quan also sees embedded finance – where financial services are built into non-financial platforms such as e-commerce, aviation, and OTAs – as a way to meet MSMEs where they operate and expand access to financial support through trusted digital ecosystems.
By partnering with these platforms, Ant International launched its embedded lending service Bettr to deliver loans for MSMEs across various markets including SEA, Hong Kong SAR and Brazil.
“I hope to broaden the availability of our services to more MSMEs, in the places where they need it, the amount that they need, and when they need it,” Quan said: “Greater inclusion – that will be my picture of success.”
The article was first published by e27
