Alibaba affiliate launches wealth management app

Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial launched a wealth management smartphone app Tuesday.

The standalone app, Ant Fortune, lets users buy online monetary fund Yu'ebao and products from Zhaocaibao, an online platform connecting investors with small businesses and individual borrowers.

In addition, investors can buy stock fund products and track stocks but currently can not make stock transactions.

Yuan Leiming, head of Ant Financial's wealth management unit, said the app lowers the investment threshold and lets more common people increase their wealth.

Yu'ebao has attracted more than 40 million investors since its launch in June 2013, making it the country's biggest monetary fund.

With higher earnings than bank deposits, Yu'ebao prompted people to pull money from banks and attracted many rivals into online finance.

On Saturday, WeBank, an online lender set up by Alibaba's archrival Tencent, launched a similar smartphone app.