Ant Financial, one of Chinese most popular e-finance service platforms, and an affiliate of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, called on delegates at a UN conference to form a digital finance working group in order to push forward the UN's 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"Governments, international institutions and private companies shall look for a common solution to advance technology innovations for digital inclusive finance," the company's executive chair, Lucy Peng, said at a meeting on "The Role of the United Nations" in regards to financing the 2030 Agenda.

In a digital era, she believes technology has been and will continue to play a vital role in supporting inclusive and sustainable development around the world because it will make financial support more readily available for ordinary people.

In terms of helping micro business in China, Ant Financial is currently working on a project to offer small and micro businesses a quick loan through its online platform. Companies can apply for a loan within three minutes and receive the money immediately upon approval, according to Peng. So far, the company has provided loans for more than 7 million companies, and the average amount of the loans is 5,000 US dollars, Peng said.

According to the company’s report, there are 230 million users of Alipay, Ant Financial's mobile and online payment app in China. About 65 percent of the app's users are people younger than 28 years of age.

Ant Financial and its partners, including the environmental NGOs, SEE Foundation and China Green Foundation, have thus far planted 10.25 million trees, equivalent to a 1.22 million tonne reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the event that finance is pivotal for success and the choices people make on finance will be critical.

"We can choose to bemoan the lack of financing for the 2030 Agenda in a world awash with so much unproductive and unrewarding finance. Or we can grasp the opportunity to reshape finance according to our urgent, collective needs," Guterres said.   

He said that he will champion key international initiatives that can harness large-scale changes in developing financing and financial systems, such as in the fields of digitalization and climate finance, and in cooperating with major investment initiatives.