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Ant International’s Antom Launches AI‑Powered MSME App for Finance and Business Operations

Business

Ant International’s Antom Launches AI‑Powered MSME App for Finance and Business Operations
Business

Business

Ant International’s Antom Launches AI‑Powered MSME App for Finance and Business Operations

2025-11-12 10:01 Last Updated At:13:09

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 11, 2025--

Antom, a leading provider of merchant payment and digitisation services under Ant International, today announced EPOS360, an app that brings point-of-sale (POS) system, payments, banking, lending, and growth support together to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) move from setup to scale efficiently.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251111066634/en/

EPOS is the all-in-one SME transformation platform of Antom, one of Ant International’s major business pillars. In the first ten months of 2025, Antom recorded strong business momentum, with acquiring TPV for non-Alipay users growing over 70% year-on-year. With the launch of the new app, Antom is set to serve more MSMEs alongside enterprise customers.

In Singapore, about 99% of enterprises are SMEs. In ASEAN, MSMEs account for 97.2% – 99.9% of total establishments in ASEAN Member States. Regionally, the MSMEs contribute 44.8% to GDP. While access to finance has improved, many MSMEs still face challenges in navigating fragmented digital ecosystem, getting market insights, experiencing slow response to market volatilities, and insufficient funding channels, etc.

To tackle these pain points, the AI-powered EPOS360 app consolidates POS system, payments, banking, lending, digitisation, marketing and other growth-enabling services. Available on iOS and Android in early 2026, the app allows MSMEs to access all these services, provided by Antom, Alipay+ and ANEXT Bank under Ant International, within five minutes.

The app will help MSMEs engage more customers. It enables merchants to set up online stores across Google Maps, partnering e-wallets, and other digital channels within minutes, making it easier for consumers to find them and place orders. Merchants can also manage daily operations, inventory, and seasonal promotions, as well as get financing support from MAS-regulated ANEXT Bank without any collaterals, all at their fingertips.

In phase one, EPOS360 serves Singapore MSMEs, particularly those in retail and food & beverage, and will expand to cover Malaysia as a mini app within Touch 'n Go in early 2026. It will roll out to more markets later. The app will be available in English, Chinese, Bahasa Malaysia, Thai, and Japanese, with more languages to be added in the future.

Born with AI embedded, the app features a built-in Antom Copilot that helps merchants quickly create online stores, boost sales with omnichannel marketing, and monitor cash flow. It can suggest inventory adjustments, explain weekly performance shifts, or address payment issues. It also analyses competition and marketing campaign results to guide smarter decisions. In addition, the MSME-facing AI copilot identifies holidays, weather changes, competitors, and bundling opportunities to recommend timely promotions, generate content, and publish it across multiple digital channels.

Supported by ANEXT Bank, EPOS360 integrates banking and financing so businesses can manage funds and access credit with ease. Merchants can open a free business account, with no minimum balance or transaction fees, and earn a competitive per annum daily interest rate on eligible balances. The platform also supports expansion, allowing merchants to hold multiple currencies.

Backed by ANEXT Bank, eligible merchants may receive instant approval for a loan up to S$5,000 at sign-up to address short-term needs, with higher limits available and revenue-based financing options available as they grow.

For payments, EPOS360, supported by Antom's payment processing service provider, helps merchants accept cards and alternative payment methods for online and in-store transactions, with same-day settlement available for certain payment methods. As businesses grow, the payments setup scales with them, such as activating Alipay+ cross-border partner wallets for foreign visitors.

The app also allows merchants to pair and configure their EPOS360 Bluetap, a smart over-the-counter terminal that accepts both QR and card payments. Its QR code-based tap-to-pay feature is powered by Ant's proprietary technology.

Ian Cheong, CEO of EPOS, said: “Singapore has shown how a pro-MSME digital agenda can translate into strong economic vitality. To support MSMEs realise their full potential, we are packaging a wide range of merchant services into one AI-powered app that removes complexity and transforms everyday operations into new opportunities for growth. With EPOS360, even a neighbourhood food & beverage stall can launch an online menu, access an instant small loan, and set up a weekend promotion in minutes.”

Gary Liu, General Manager of Antom, Ant International, said: “We aim to make advanced technologies and high-quality services accessible to businesses of all sizes. Tailored-made merchant services have long felt beyond the reach of MSMEs, and EPOS360 lowers that barrier. While continuing to support cross-border merchants, we are deepening our focus on empowering local MSMEs with the same level of innovation and capability to drive sustainable growth.”

EPOS serves over 6,000 merchants in Singapore and is expanding to other markets. The platform helps businesses improve efficiency and customer engagement with intelligent sales systems, AI-driven CRM and analytics, and hardware solutions such as Soundbox and self-ordering kiosks.

To recognise outstanding MSMEs that excel in innovation, digitisation, customer experience and workplace culture, Ant International and EPOS have launched the inaugural Emerging Champions Awards in Singapore. Winners include Ai Muay Management Pte. Ltd., which won the Grand Prize in Digital Transformation for its digital transformation strategy for the six wet markets it manages, and Big Spring Day Seafood Trading Pte. Ltd., a local surimi seafood manufacturer named The Most Innovative SME for its proprietary blast-freezing technology and business model. Each winner will receive up to S$10,000 in Family Credits that can be redeemed for EPOS services to accelerate their digitisation journey.

About Antom

Ant International's Antom is the leading payment and digitisation services provider for merchants around the world. It offers unified, vertical-specific digital payment solutions to serve businesses of all sizes. Antom supports merchants to integrate over 300 payment methods, enabling them to connect with consumers in more than 200 markets, with the flexibility to accept payments in more than 100 currencies. Beyond payments, it provides digital marketing solutions and merchant digitisation services to help merchant streamline operations and enhance customer engagement. To learn more, please visit https://www.antom.com/.

About EPOS

EPOS is a leading Point-of-Sale (POS) digital solutions provider based in Singapore. Supporting Ant International's mission to empower SMEs, EPOS leverages Antom’s digital capabilities as the organisation’s central hub to serve regional small and medium-sized businesses with integrated O2O digital, payment and banking solutions. For more information about EPOS360, please visit https://www.epos.com.sg/epos360/.

EPOS360 allows merchants to pair and configure EPOS360 Bluetap, a smart over-the-counter terminal that accepts both QR and card payments.

EPOS360 allows merchants to pair and configure EPOS360 Bluetap, a smart over-the-counter terminal that accepts both QR and card payments.

The AI-powered EPOS360 provides POS system, payments, banking, lending and other growth-enabling services, offering customised support to help MSMEs operate more efficiently (Image for illustrative purposes only).

The AI-powered EPOS360 provides POS system, payments, banking, lending and other growth-enabling services, offering customised support to help MSMEs operate more efficiently (Image for illustrative purposes only).

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are climbing worldwide, and oil prices are easing Wednesday as hopes build that the war with Iran could end soon. Some of the moves are tentative, though, after financial markets have already seen similar bouts of optimism get quickly undercut several times.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and added to its leap from the day before, which was its best since last spring. That followed even bigger gains for stock markets across Europe and Asia, including an 8.4% surge in South Korea, which were catching up to Wall Street’s rally from Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 292 points, or 0.6%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1% higher.

Oil prices also fell back toward $100 per barrel after President Donald Trump said shortly before Wall Street began trading that Iran “has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!”

“We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”

Trump had said the night before that the U.S. military could end its offensive in two to three weeks. That added to optimism following a couple tenuous signals of hope from earlier Tuesday that Wall Street latched onto, including a news report quoting Iran’s president as saying that it has “the necessary will to end the war” as long as certain requirements are met, including “guarantees to prevent a recurrence of aggression.”

The worry on Wall Street has been that the war may last a long time and keep oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf out of global markets, which could create a brutal blast of inflation.

But hope has been quick to swing to doubt on Wall Street since the war with Iran began, triggering manic swings back and forth for financial markets. Trump has also made statements that lifted markets, only to see the gains quickly disappear after increasing his military threats against Iran. Investors say Trump’s statements are becoming less impactful for financial markets.

And oil prices remain high, even if they’ve eased so far this week. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was sitting at $101.16 following its declines, which is still up from roughly $70 before the war began.

U.S. gas prices rose again overnight to a national average of $4.06, according to the auto club AAA.

Iran hit an oil tanker off the coast of Qatar and Kuwait’s airport on Wednesday while airstrikes battered Tehran as the fighting continued. Iran also continues to hold a grip on the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes during peacetime.

“De-escalation hopes have given markets a lift, but we think the effects of the war would, in many cases, persist even if the war did end soon,” Thomas Mathews, head of markets, Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, said in a research note Wednesday.

“It’s worth thinking through how markets might fare if the war were to end ‘very soon,’” he wrote. “Do markets have further to recover if sentiment continues to improve? The answer is almost certainly yes.”

The White House said Trump will deliver a public address Wednesday evening on the Iran war.

On Wall Street, the majority of stocks rose, with Big Tech powering the move higher. Gains of 2.8% for Alphabet and 0.8% for Nvidia were two of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.

They helped offset a 13.1% drop for Nike, which fell even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. Analysts said it gave some lackluster financial forecasts.

Hasbro fell 3.6% after the toy company found someone had gained unauthorized access to its computer network and is working to see what the full impact was.

In stock markets abroad, indexes leaped more than 1% in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Asian markets had even bigger gains.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 5.2% after a survey by Japan’s central bank showed business sentiment for major Japanese manufacturers improved despite Iran war worries.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report said U.S. retailers made more money in February than economists expected. A separate report said U.S. manufacturing growth last month was slightly faster than economists expected. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.32% from 4.30% late Tuesday.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.

James Conti works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

James Conti works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Philip Finale works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Philip Finale works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader reacts near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader reacts near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A screen displays financial information on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A screen displays financial information on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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