Antom Review

Antom is the merchant payments brand of Ant International, the Singapore-based company that runs Alipay+, WorldFirst and Bettr. It acquires card and wallet payments for online and in-store merchants through its own licensed companies in Singapore, the UK, the EU and the US. It says it supports more than 300 payment methods in over 200 markets, with unusually deep coverage of Asian e-wallets such as Alipay, GCash, DANA, Kakao Pay and Touch 'n Go. Around that sit hosted checkout, embedded payment elements, payment links, subscriptions, usage-based billing, invoicing, tax tools, fraud screening and a payment orchestration layer. Antom does not publish its processing rates. Larger merchants negotiate a contract, and Shopify and WooCommerce merchants sign up online at a rate Antom does not show publicly. Its published terms let it hold a reserve and a rolling reserve at its discretion, and keep collateral for at least 180 days after the account closes. Its US company, AUS Merchant Services (formerly Alipay US), agreed in July 2026 to pay an $85 million criminal penalty and forfeit $190 million under a non-prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice. The agreement resolved allegations under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and AUS admitted anti-money-laundering failures that let some Alibaba.com merchants use its services to sell prohibited products, including pharmaceuticals, into the US. Independent merchant reviews are too few to judge. This review is written for online businesses selling across borders, particularly into Asia, and contracting with Antom's Singapore company or one of its US, UK or EU companies.

What Antom is

Antom is the merchant payments business of Ant International. Its homepage calls it "a brand of Ant International" and describes it as a payment and digitalisation platform for businesses of all sizes, across Asia and worldwide. It accepts card, wallet, bank and buy-now-pay-later payments for online and in-store merchants. Around payment acceptance it sells checkout, billing, fraud, orchestration and marketing tools.

The business is older than the name. Antom's About page traces its history to 2012, when it began handling payments for AliExpress merchants. By 2016, it says, it was a payment partner for brands such as Apple and Google. Ant International used the Antom name for its merchant payment services when it set out its strategy in Singapore on 14 November 2023. The About page says that in 2022 Antom integrated strategic partners including 2C2P, EPOS, MultiSafepay and KOMOJU, and it now lists all four as affiliated brands. Because the brand is newer than the business behind it, we do not give a single founding year.

Ant International is headquartered in Singapore. Its July 2026 funding announcement says it "began independent operation in 2024" and connects more than 150 million merchants with more than 2 billion user accounts. The same release announced a Series A equity round of about US$1.2 billion, in which existing investors Ant Group and Alibaba Group took part. Ant International does not publish who owns what share of the company, so we describe Ant Group and Alibaba as investors and do not say either one controls it. Ant International's other main businesses are Alipay+ (cross-border wallet payments), WorldFirst (business accounts and FX) and Bettr (lending).

Scale figures for Antom alone are limited. In its review of 2024, Ant International said the payment volume of Antom's direct acquiring business nearly doubled between January and November 2024, compared with the same months of 2023. It also said Antom's card processing volume grew more than tenfold over the year. It did not give absolute figures.

Why we list Antom as an acquirer

Antom holds the merchant agreement itself, through its own licensed companies. Its Shopify documentation names an acquiring entity for each market: AntomSG for Singapore and Hong Kong merchants, AntomUS, AntomUK and AntomEU. The merchant terms name the Antom company in each agreement as the merchant's counterparty. That puts Antom at the acquirer end of the value chain, so we list it under Platform / Acquirer. It also sells a payment orchestration product that routes transactions across more than 100 acquirers, according to Antom, and its legal pages include a PayFac data notice. We type it as an acquirer because most merchants contract with Antom directly to accept payments.

Licences and the company you contract with

Antom's legal pages list several regulated companies. Which one you sign with depends on where your business is registered:

• Singapore: AISG E-Commerce Private Limited. The Monetary Authority of Singapore's directory lists it as a major payment institution, with cross-border money transfer as its licensed service. Antom's Singapore safeguarding disclosure says money it holds for merchants is kept in pooled trust accounts and that Antom SG keeps any interest earned.
• United Kingdom: AIUK Services Limited, authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an electronic money institution (firm reference 927634), according to Antom's regulatory page.
• European Economic Area: AIEU Services Limited S.A. in Luxembourg, authorised by the CSSF to issue e-money and provide payment services, according to Antom's regulatory page. The merchant terms still refer to this company by an older name, Alipay (Europe) Limited, S.A.
• United States: AUS Merchant Services, Inc., formerly Alipay US. Antom's regulatory page lists 51 US state and territory licences, mostly money transmitter licences, one of which (Nevada) is held by a subsidiary.
• Malaysia: the merchant terms include country-specific clauses for AIMY Merchant Services Sdn. Bhd.

The merchant dashboard is run by a separate company, AISG Labs Pte. Ltd., under its own membership agreement. Before you sign, check which Antom company is named in your agreement, because the rules on safeguarding, tax and data retention differ by company.

What it costs

Antom does not publish a rate card. As of November 2026 antom.com has no pricing page in its global, US, UK or Singapore versions. The merchant terms say service fees, settlement cycles and dispute fees are set in each merchant's agreement, so rates are quoted per account. Even the Shopify and WooCommerce plugins, which merchants sign up for online, carry no public price. Antom's Shopify documentation says only that card payments are billed at a blended rate, and both its plugin pages promise "no hidden fees".

Antom's WooCommerce marketplace listing says it charges no setup, monthly or account fees. Several third-party directories list per-transaction rates for Antom's plugins. We could not find those figures on any Antom-owned page, so we do not treat them as Antom's prices. The terms do confirm some costs you should ask about. Disputes and chargebacks may carry dispute handling fees and dispute reversal fees. Your own bank's charges on incoming settlements are your responsibility. VAT may be deducted from service fees for UK merchants, and for EEA merchants registered in Luxembourg. When you ask for a quote, get the price for each payment method and each region you will sell into. Also get the dispute fees, the currency conversion margin and any reserve Antom plans to hold.

How it works: products and integration

Antom offers three main ways to integrate: drop-in payment elements, a hosted checkout page, and a full API. Plugins are available for Shopify and WooCommerce, and a sandbox is available for testing. The main products are:

• One-time payments across cards, wallets, online banking, over-the-counter and bank-transfer methods, on web, mobile, app and TV, according to Antom's FAQ.
• Payment links, and Scan to Link for QR-code payments shown on screen.
• Tokenised payment (auto debit) for variable, merchant-initiated charges, and subscription payment for fixed recurring billing. Antom says it starts each renewal 24 hours before the billing cycle and retries a failed charge for up to 24 hours.
• Usage-based billing, invoicing and tax automation, which the US site pitches particularly at AI and software businesses.
• In the US: card payments, card instalments and a product it calls Guaranteed ACH for bank payments.
• Antom Payment Orchestration (APO): routing across more than 100 acquirers with one dashboard for reporting and reconciliation, according to Antom.
• Antom Shield fraud screening, Card Revenue Booster for recovering declined payments, and EasySafePay, which lets shoppers pay by wallet without being redirected away from the merchant's checkout.
• A+ Rewards, which runs merchant coupons and cashback campaigns inside Alipay+ partner wallets.
• Antom Copilot, an AI assistant for integration, disputes and operations, launched in 2024.

Payment method coverage is the main reason to choose Antom. Its sites claim 300+ payment methods in 200+ markets, 100+ processing currencies and 90+ settlement currencies. Most competitors do not match its depth in Asian wallets. The WooCommerce plugin, for example, lets merchants show Alipay, AlipayHK, TrueMoney, Touch 'n Go, GCash, DANA, Kakao Pay, Toss Pay and NAVER Pay directly on the checkout page. The plugins cover fewer markets than a direct contract. Antom's documentation lists Hong Kong, Singapore, the US, the UK and the EU for the Shopify card plugin. The Shopify wallet plugin is limited to Hong Kong and Singapore merchants, and the WooCommerce plugin to US, Singapore and Hong Kong merchants.

In-store payments and small-business tools

Antom's retail page offers terminals that accept tap, swipe, insert and scan-to-pay payments, with online and in-store transactions reported and reconciled together. It says it offers local acquiring in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the US, the UK and other European markets. Antom publishes terms of use for terminal hardware and software but does not publish terminal prices or in-person rates. For small businesses, Ant International's EPOS360 app combines a point-of-sale system with payments, banking and financing tools. It launched in Singapore and is available in Malaysia as a mini-programme inside TNG eWallet.

Contract terms, reserves and collateral

Antom publishes its standard merchant terms, the AMS Terms and Conditions, which were last updated on 30 October 2026, together with definitions, optional-service terms and a prohibited list. These terms sit beneath a Master Services Agreement signed with each merchant. That agreement sets the fees, the settlement cycle and the term of the contract, and it is not published. We could not confirm a minimum contract length or an early termination fee.

The published terms give Antom wide powers over your money:

• Collateral: Antom may require a sum it calls the Exposure Amount to cover chargebacks, excessive refunds, credit risk and similar exposures. It can raise, reduce or remove that sum at any time. If you are asked to top it up, you have five business days, after which Antom can take the money from your settlements or other funds.
• Rolling reserve: on top of that, Antom may withhold part of each settlement at a rate it sets and can change "immediately upon a written notification". The reserve can later be converted into a fixed collateral amount.
• You earn no interest on collateral, it may be pooled with other funds, and the terms say it is not part of the money Antom must safeguard.
• On termination: once notice is given, Antom can estimate future chargebacks, refunds and fines and require you to put up that amount as collateral. It returns what is left only after a 180-day collateral period, and only once all your liabilities are settled.
• Refunds can be issued for up to 365 days after the transaction, unless a payment method's own rules say otherwise.
• Refund prefunding: if a settlement cycle does not have enough money to cover your refunds and chargebacks, you can ask Antom to pay them in advance, but Antom may then hold a separate Reserve Amount against them.

None of this is unusual for a cross-border acquirer. Even so, a merchant with thin margins or seasonal cash flow should negotiate the collateral and rolling-reserve terms before signing, and get them written into the Master Services Agreement.

Payouts and settlement

Antom's FAQ says there is no predetermined settlement cycle: it depends on your agreement. You set the settlement currency (for example USD, EUR or SGD) and frequency (for example daily, weekly or monthly) in the dashboard. The Shopify card plugin is an exception, because its timing is published: T+5 for merchants contracting with Antom's Singapore, UK and EU companies, and T+7 for US merchants. Where the transaction currency differs from the settlement currency, Antom's dashboard documentation says the amount is converted after a rate is quoted, so cross-currency sales can take a little longer to settle. The terms make you responsible for any fees your own bank charges on settlements.

What Antom will not serve

Antom's prohibited and restricted list was last updated on 19 May 2026, and it is long. It refuses adult content, gambling, fantasy sports with prizes, cannabis and CBD, e-cigarettes and online tobacco sales, crypto and NFTs, money transmitters, debt collection, credit repair, crowdfunding, auctions, multi-level marketing, essay mills, and donations to charitable organisations. Online dating, streaming services, insurance, precious metals, prepaid cards and other licensed financial firms are restricted, meaning Antom will consider them case by case. Antom is not an option for high-risk merchants.

Regulatory record

On 1 July 2026 the US Department of Justice announced that Alibaba and AUS Merchant Services, Inc., the US company listed on Antom's regulatory page, had entered non-prosecution agreements under which they would pay $600 million in total. AUS's agreement, signed on 29 June 2026, resolves allegations of misdemeanour violations of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and runs for three years. According to the Justice Department, AUS admitted that between January 2020 and December 2023 it accepted US-dollar card and wire payments routed through US bank accounts and moved the funds offshore for settlement, and that its transaction monitoring did not fully incorporate certain wire-transfer data. It also admitted that its anti-money-laundering programme failed to stop some Alibaba merchants from using its payment processing and settlement services to sell prohibited products into the United States; the statement of facts names Alibaba.com sellers and pharmaceutical products. AUS agreed to pay an $85 million criminal penalty, forfeit $190 million and strengthen its compliance programme. The DOJ calls AUS a subsidiary of Ant Group, while Antom's own regulatory page lists AUS as one of its licensed companies. The admitted conduct concerned AUS's processing for sellers on Alibaba.com. Even so, it is a significant compliance failure at the company that holds Antom's US licences.

Earlier, on 9 October 2018, the Connecticut Banking Commissioner issued a consent order against Alipay US, Inc., NMLS number 1277102. The Justice Department agreement confirms that AUS was formerly called Alipay U.S., Inc., and the same number appears against AUS's current Connecticut licence on Antom's regulatory page. The order alleged that the company had transmitted money in Connecticut without a licence from at least January 2016 to December 2017 by providing merchant payment processing services. Alipay US agreed to stop, paid a $10,000 civil penalty and $2,550 in back licensing fees, and neither admitted nor denied the allegation.

Reputation and merchant feedback

There is very little independent merchant feedback on Antom. As of November 2026, Antom's Trustpilot page shows a TrustScore of 2.8 from just three reviews. All three are one-star, so the score is far above what the star distribution alone would suggest. Two of the reviewers describe applying for an account and waiting weeks or months for approval, and all three complain of slow support. Antom's WooCommerce marketplace listing shows an average of 4.7 from three reviews. That is far too little data to judge Antom either way.

Antom's marketing names large enterprise clients. Its About page says it became a payment partner to brands such as Apple and Google from 2016, and in July 2026 Ant International announced a deeper partnership with GCash for Business in the Philippines. For a business owner, these deals mainly show that Antom can serve large global companies. They say little about the experience of a small merchant on a plugin.

Who Antom suits

Antom fits best if you sell online across borders into Southeast Asia, Greater China and Korea and lose sales because shoppers there cannot pay with their usual wallet. Travel companies, digital-entertainment and gaming businesses, software and AI subscriptions, marketplaces and cross-border e-commerce brands are its core market. Larger merchants can also use its orchestration layer and multi-currency settlement. Shopify and WooCommerce stores registered in Singapore, Hong Kong or the US can try it with less commitment through the plugins.

Look elsewhere if you need to know your rate before applying, sell mainly to domestic card-paying customers in the US or Europe, or operate in any of the many categories Antom prohibits. Whichever kind of merchant you are, read the collateral and rolling-reserve clauses and get the reserve terms fixed in writing. Factor in the 2026 Justice Department settlement at Antom's US company, especially if you would contract with that company.