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Ant Financial, an affiliate of the Alibaba Group, announced on Wednesday that it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD Bank) to support the bank’s digital transformation with Ant Financial's technological capabilities.

The agreement is the third of its kind announced this month between Ant Financial and established banks, following partnerships with Huaxia Bank and China Everbright Bank. 

Ant Financial and SPD Bank will partner in online risk management, including fraud prevention, with the former providing technological support to help the latter prevent loan, transaction and marketing fraud. The partnership will also leverage Ant’s financial-grade technologies in AI, supply chain finance, biometric identification and risk management. 

“Ant Financial and SPD Bank share the same vision for the future. With this partnership, we will explore how to improve efficiency in banking operations, as well as how to leverage technology to create greater value for our users,” said Eric Jing, Executive Chairman and CEO of Ant Financial. 

In addition to sharing technological capabilities, the partnership will allow Ant Financial and SPD Bank to strengthen collaboration on a broad range of inclusive finance initiatives, from improving user experience while using online and offline payment services, to providing secure, convenient and efficient financial services for small and micro businesses. 

Last year at the 2017 Ant Fortune Open Platform Conference, Jing indicated that Ant’s technologies would be opened up to current and potential partners, with the only criterion being whether the partnership is innovative enough to deliver value to users.