Alibaba Group rejigs brass, names veteran Simon Hu as CEO for Ant Financial

Alibaba Group Holdings and finance affiliate Ant Financial unveiled a series of management changes, including a new chief executive officer for Ant, as they seek to boost expansion overseas and tighten coordination between the two operations. Ant Financial said veteran Simon Hu, 49, would become CEO. He will take over the role from Eric Jing, 47, who will remain executive chairman.

Cheng Li, chief technology officer for Ant, will move over to become CTO for Alibaba Group, reporting directly to CEO Daniel Zhang. Jeff Zhang, the current CTO for Alibaba, will remain chairman of the Alibaba Technology Committee and lead the company’s overall tech strategy.