Ant Financial extends online credit service to retailers

Ant Financial Services Group, the online finance firm backed by billionaire Jack Ma, will extend its online consumer credit service to four million retail businesses across the country to boost sales and encourage spending - as China's consumers increasingly feel more comfortable shopping with borrowed money.

Zou Liang, vice-president of Alipay Business Unit at Ant Financial, said that sales surged by an average 41 percent per client year-on-year from 2015 to 2016 after a number of retailers adopted Huabei, or Ant Check Later, a loan and installment service.

The move is among a wide array of cashless services Ant introduced to its clients, ranging from digital payments and marketing to customer management and financing, Zou told the 2017 Ant Open Day in Shanghai on Wednesday.