Photo credit: Lawrence Wong / Betty Chua
Singapore’s deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong recently visited Chinese electric automaker Nio and fintech major Ant Group at their Shanghai headquarters during his ongoing trip to China.
In his LinkedIn posts, Wong applauded Nio and Ant Group’s efforts to expand their presence in Singapore.
Nio, which manufactures electric vehicles and pioneered car battery-swapping tech, said in May 2022 it would build an R&D center in the city-state.
According to the company, the center will focus on developments in AI and autonomous driving in Singapore by collaborating with local science and research institutions. Nio also started listing on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
Wong noted that Alipay, Ant’s flagship product, has been integrated into Singapore’s SGQR payment code system since 2019, around a year after the service launched.
“Singapore plays a crucial role to Ant as the gateway to Southeast Asia and the rest of the world, particularly as Ant seeks to grow its cross-border payments,” Wong said.
Most recently, Alipay said transactions on its platform by Chinese tourists in Singapore nearly doubled in the first quarter of 2023 compared to Q4 2022 as China relaxed its borders.
See also: Alibaba’s financial health in 5 charts
Editing by Thu Huong Le
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