Ant's evolution into the Alibaba of finance has been fueled by a desire to claw back customers who began using WeChat more as it broadened out from a messaging service to an online platform for services of all sorts -- including mobile payments. More than 90% of Alipay's 1 billion users now access the app for more than just payments.
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How Ant Group turned into the Alibaba of Chinese finance
"Ant used its payment service as a user acquisition engine for building broader financial services features... effectively creating a closed loop ecosystem where there is no need for money to leave the wallet ecosystem," Bernstein's Harshita Rawat said in a client call last week.
