Alibaba Cloud expands fintech footprint with Lulu Financial Holdings and Ant Digital Technologies AI partnerships
These alliances come amid a wave of AI-led disruption and digital reinvention in the UAE and the wider GCC, where financial institutions are being redefined by national innovation strategies, ecosystem investments, and future-focused talent development. This technological shift holds immense economic potential, with McKinsey estimating a $1 trillion annual value opportunity in global banking, and PwC projecting a $320 billion contribution to the Middle East's economy by 2030.
Eric Wan, Vice President of Alibaba Cloud International, General Manager of the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said: 'We've always believed that technology has the power to drive real-world change, and our collaboration with leading financial institutions like LuLu Financial Holdings and Ant Digital Technologies reinforces this belief. It allows us to support them not just adapt but thrive in an increasingly digital world. With our dynamic cloud solutions and AI capabilities, we're supporting their journey to deliver smarter, more secure financial services - unlocking countless opportunities and reimagining the future of the financial sector.'
Alibaba Cloud's robust cloud infrastructure and Generative AI capabilities are key to LuLuFin' transformation into an AI-native organization. With Alibaba Cloud's advanced solutions and technologies, LuLuFin has adopted a multi-cloud strategy that strengthens business resilience, enhances disaster recovery capabilities, and guides the development of innovative, customer-centric financial services. Alibaba Cloud's extensive portfolio of services, including its Elastic Compute Service (ECS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), PolarDB, and the EMAS mobile testing platform, provides LuLuFin with unprecedented agility, scalability, and security.
Additionally, by leveraging Alibaba's proprietary large language model Qwen, LuLuFin is developing an internal AI agent called Treasury AI, as part of the joint Agentic AI development program. This intelligent platform is engineered to optimize fund allocation and movement. Treasury AI helps in transaction costs, currency exposure, and regulatory compliance. These innovations, powered by Qwen, are poised to significantly enhance LuluFin's service capabilities, revamp customer interactions, and streamline decision-making through predictive analytics and natural language processing.
Joseph Cleetus, VP of Business Transformation, LuLu Financial Holdings said: 'AI is no longer on the horizon. It's already transforming the way we live, work, and transact. This collaboration marks a pivotal step forward in our journey to redefine cross-border payments, not just as a service, but as an intelligent, anticipatory experience. Together with Alibaba Cloud, we are building a future where technology doesn't just support finance — it elevates it.'
During the Summit, Alibaba Cloud also announced its plan to deepen collaboration with Ant Digital Technologies to expand the suite of joint solutions into its Dubai region later this year, including ZOLOZ for digital identity verification, mPaaS for SuperApp development and operations, and cutting-edge AI capabilities tailored for the financial services industry (FSI). Leveraging the advanced technologies of Ant Digital Technologies and robust cloud and AI infrastructure of Alibaba Cloud, the partnership aims to deliver secure, scalable, and intelligent digital transformation services for local FSI customers. This initiative underscores both companies' commitment to empowering financial institutions in the region with innovative cloud and AI-native tools and trusted digital infrastructure.
By partnering with forward-thinking organizations like LuLu Financial Holdings and Ant Digital Technologies, Alibaba Cloud is helping businesses harness the full potential of technology to deliver meaningful change and create value for their customers and communities.
Alibaba Cloud has been a leading provider of cloud services to local private companies and public institutions in the UAE and the wider Middle East region since 2016. It has a robust local ecosystem in the MEA region with partners covering banking, financial services and insurance, media, public sectors, and customers locally across different sectors.
About Alibaba Cloud
Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com) is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. It offers a complete suite of cloud services to customers worldwide, including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization services, large-scale computing, security, big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) services. Alibaba has been named the leading IaaS provider in Asia Pacific by revenue in U.S. dollars since 2018, according to Gartner. It has also maintained its position as one of the world's leading public cloud IaaS service providers since 2018, according to IDC.
About LuLu Financial Holdings
LuLu Financial Holdings is a leading global financial services provider, offering a wide range of services including cross-border payments, currency exchange, and financial technology solutions. With over 370 customer engagement centers in over 10 countries across the Middle East, Indian subcontinent and APAC regions, and a commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction, LuLu Financial Holdings continues to set benchmarks in the financial services industry.
Learn more at https://www.lulufin.com/. For media enquiries, please contact: Vishnu Prasad – vishnu.prasad@lulufin.com.
About Ant Digital Technologies
Ant Digital Technologies is the technology commercialization business division of the Ant Group, which started independent operation in April 2024. Ant Digital Technologies originated from AntChain and has the leading technologies and patents in the field of blockchain globally. It has continuously developed several commercialized product brands such as ZOLOZ, mPaaS, and ZAN, with representative technological capabilities and businesses that are always committed to helping enterprises better embrace the digital age.
Media Contacts
Alibaba Cloud
Gabbie Fu
Funi.fn@alibaba-inc.com
Ribal Temraz
APCO Worldwide
rtemraz@apcoworldwide.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
31 minutes ago
- Khaleej Times
Fajar Realty CEO wins India influencer award in Dubai
Kiran Khawaja, a prominent figure in Dubai's real estate sector, was honoured as the 'Top Business Leader – Real Estate Excellence Icon' at the India International Influencer Awards, in Dubai. The award recognized her contributions and leadership in the real estate industry. Kiran Khawaja has transformed Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) into a red-hot property destination, drawing attention from investors across the Middle East. She has carved a unique niche in the regional property sector. Her leadership and strategic foresight continue to set her apart from others in the field. Kiran, who is the CEO of Fajar Realty, said: 'I am pleased and deeply honoured to be recognized as the 'Top Business Leader – Real Estate Excellence Icon.' With Dubai consistently setting monthly property records and emirates like Ras Al Khaimah attracting first-time investors, the UAE's real estate market is experiencing sustained growth. This is a strong indication that RAK is poised for remarkable development in the coming months.' Kiran has consistently been in the spotlight, earning accolades throughout her 19-year journey in the industry. Under Kiran's dynamic leadership, Fajar Realty has expanded significantly not just in Dubai, but internationally. Her vision continues to guide the company through the evolving challenges of the UAE real estate market, positioning her and her brand for even greater success.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
White House AI chief says Biden hurt Gulf AI ambitions
The White House cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence adviser has blamed the Biden administration for stifling Middle East technology ambitions, particularly in the AI space. David Sacks made the comments on Tuesday during a round-table discussion at the Pennsylvania Energy and AI Summit, which President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend. He said former president Joe Biden's push to increase export controls that limited access to processing units deemed critical to pro-AI countries such as the UAE that are seeking to be leaders in the sector. Those export controls sought to prevent countries such as China from taking the lead in the AI arena but other nations, many of them US allies, were disproportionately affected by the policies. 'We already have hostile relations with a country on one side of the Persian Gulf,' Mr Sacks said, referring to Iran. 'Do we have to alienate everybody?' Alleviating some of these concerns, however, was Mr Trump's announcement in May during a visit to the UAE of a partnership in the form of a new 5-gigawatt UAE-US AI campus. Proponents of the deal highlighted security guarantees that would prevent the misuse of US technology, CPUs and GPUs. 'I know that our Gulf state partners will honour our security agreement,' Mr Sacks said. He added that stories of chip smuggling to other countries were overblown and oversimplified. 'The stories give people the impression that the chips are like diamonds in a briefcase that can be smuggled,' he explained. 'They're not, they're mainframe computers, it's not easy.' Mr Sacks added that inspectors can easily keep track of servers at data centres to ensure that US technology is accounted for. He also accused the Biden administration of placing too many burdens on US tech companies with the executive order that sought to put guardrails on AI development by emphasising data privacy and labour protection. Mr Sacks pointed out that in the days after inauguration, Mr Trump rescinded Mr Biden's executive order. Ahead of the conference, Nvidia, which has been a vocal critic of export control policies under the Biden administration, announced that following meetings with Mr Trump and other US officials, the company would soon be able to sell its Nvidia H20 GPU in China again. 'Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,' the company said. Also taking part in the summit was Khaldoon Al Mubarak, managing director and chief executive of UAE-based Mubadala Investment Company, who highlighted Mubadala's push to have an AI member as a consultant on its investment committee. 'The AI co-pilot that sits with us in the committee with all the board members, and all the investment committee members, obviously get to interact directly agent,' he said. Mr Al Mubarak said the UAE's economic history – from the rise and fall of the pearl industry that preceded a boom in oil and natural gas that helped propel the country to unprecedented prosperity – serves as a compass as it navigates its AI ambitions. 'At some point, this [oil and gas] was going to be disrupted, and I think that was the wise approach that our leadership and my government took,' he said, pointing out the UAE's push over the last decade to invest in AI. Mr Al Mubarak highlighted the creation of the UAE's Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) – where he currently serves as chairman of the board of trustees – in 2019 as proof the country was ahead of the curve in identifying AI as an economic game-changer.
Arabian Business
an hour ago
- Arabian Business
Saudi inflation holds steady at 2.3% in June 2025 as consumer and wholesale prices stabilise
Saudi Arabia's inflation rate remained stable at 2.3 per cent in June 2025 compared to the same month in 2024, according to the latest data released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). On a monthly basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) also showed no significant movement, holding steady with a 0.2 per cent increase from May 2025. The CPI tracks changes in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of 490 goods and services, compiled using data from the 2018 Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Saudi inflation 2025 The Wholesale Price Index (WPI), which measures changes in prices at the producer level, remained relatively stable at 2.1 per cent year-on-year. However, it saw a slight monthly decline of 0.1 per cent in June. Annual CPI (June 2025 vs June 2024): 2.3 per cent Monthly CPI (June 2025 vs May 2025): 0.2 per cent Annual WPI: 2.1 per cent Monthly WPI change: -0.1 per cent The stability in both consumer and wholesale prices suggests that the Kingdom is maintaining effective inflation control measures, even as other global economies continue to grapple with price volatility and cost-of-living concerns.
