Ant International, a global digital payment and financial technology provider headquartered in Singapore, and OCBC Indonesia have teamed up to deliver embedded financial services to small and medium-scale enterprises ( SMEs ).

This is the first such partnership in Indonesia between Ant International and a commercial bank, as part of efforts to boost financial inclusion for businesses operating in one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing digital economies in Southeast Asia.

Embedded finance integrates banking, lending, payment and other financial services into non-financial business processes and platforms.

Both parties believe this collaboration could benefit thousands of small businesses in Indonesia over the next few years.

According to market research company Mordor Intelligence, Indonesia's e-commerce landscape is poised for significant growth, projected to increase from an estimated US$58.43 billion in 2024 to US$95.84 billion by 2029.

The partnership builds on OCBC’s SME embedded financing programme, which provides financing solutions to SME suppliers on leading business-to-business supply chain platforms across Singapore and Malaysia. Since the programme was launched by OCBC in 2023, close to S$200 million ( US$154.89 million ) in loans have been disbursed to hundreds of SMEs in the two countries by end-2024.

Ant International supports SMEs globally, with over 90% of merchants it serves being small and micro-sized enterprises. The company has been working with global and local financial leaders to widen financial access for small businesses with AI-driven financial and credit solutions, along with its payments and digitization expertise.