Alibaba has been offering new financial services around Alipay, including a money market fund for consumers, a mobile payment application and even a new private bank that was approved by the Chinese government in September 2014.
The rebranding of the Alipay unit, whose legal name is Zhejiang Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group Co, is part of a strategy by Alibaba and its affiliated companies to accelerate development of financial business. The name Ant was chosen to symbolize the potential strength of a number of smaller brands working together.
In recent news, Alipay has revealed plans to launch a service for US retailers, dubbed ePass.
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