China’s Ant Financial Services Group has said it wants to increase operations in Japan and is actively seeking a partner there.

Ant, the financial services subsidiary of Jack Ma's e-commerce giant Alibaba has been spreading its influence to the south with recent ventures in Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and The Philippines. On a global basis the company upped its offer for for U.S. money transfer service «MoneyGram International» $1.2 billion bid 

Now it is looking at spreading its influence across North-Asia. With a deal in Korea already in the bag after a $200 million investment in South Korea’s mobile platform company Kakao Talk, the focus has turned to the world's thrid-largest economy Japan.