Jack Ma’s Ant promotes Alibaba veteran to key post and speeds up restructuring after getting the nod for US$1.5 billion fundraising

Sophie Wu Minzhi, a 20-year veteran at Alibaba Group Holding, was promoted to Chief People Officer of Ant Group, replacing Sam Zeng Songbai, starting from January 1

Her Alibaba career covered several units including China Trustpass Sales, China Golden Supplier, ICBU, 1688.com and Rural Taobao before joining Ant in August 2021

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Tracy Quin ShanghaiandXinmei Shenin Hong Kong

Published: 8:00pm, 4 Jan 2023

Ant Group appointed a key executive and updated its marketing guidelines to comply with consumer-protection rules, in a sign that the fintech giant is speeding up its restructuring after receiving regulatory approvals on New Year Eve to more than double the capital base of its consumer credit unit.

Sophie Wu Minzhi, a 20-year veteran at Alibaba Group Holding, has been promoted to Chief People Officer of the fintech affiliate, replacing Sam Zeng Songbai, starting from January 1. Her career at Alibaba covered several business units, including China Trustpass Sales, China Golden Supplier, ICBU, 1688.com and Rural Taobao before she joined Ant in August 2021.

The promotion in the human resources department of China’s largest fintech company came hot on the heels of the green light secured for Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance to raise 10.5 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion), the first approval since Ant’s US$39.67 billion initial public offering (IPO) was foiled in November 2020.

Zeng, born in the 1960s, had been thinking about handing over his role “in recent years,” Ant’s chairman and chief executive Eric Jing said in a note to employees seen by the South China Morning Post. Alibaba owns the Post.

Ant Group’s Chief People Officer Wu Minzhi. Photo: Ant Group

“Sam has been with our company since Alipay transformed into Ant Group,” Jing wrote. “Over the past 10 years, … he helped our company build a comprehensive system to develop our organisation.”