Ant Financial to offer farmers better financial services

BEIJING - Alibaba's financial branch Ant Financial announced Tuesday it will offer China's unbanked rural population more financial services to boost growth in rural areas.

Ant Financial will roll out an acquaintance-based loan service, supply chain financing and other financial services, lending about one trillion yuan ($144 billion) to rural customers in the next three years.

The Internet finance giant has already piloted rural financing services in some villages in north China's Hebei province and Inner Mongolia this year, attracting millions of rural customers.

Ant Financial, together with World Bank Group member IFC, on Tuesday made an additional 157-million-yuan ($23 million) equity investment in CFPA Microfinance, one of China's largest rural-focused microfinance companies.

The company plans to work with 100 enterprises to help farming households finance their supply chains and offer payment, credit and insurance services to about 1,000 counties in the next three years.