Asia wealth managers pull out all stops to get clients on Ant IPO

A sign for digital payment service Alipay by Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, is displayed outside a store in Hong Kong.

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Wealth managers in Asia are preparing to lend more to their clients and help them raise cash by selling investments to ensure they can get their hands on shares in Chinese fintech giant Ant Group's up to US$30 billion IPO, bankers said.

The region's wealth managers routinely offer loans to major clients for subscribing to initial public offerings (IPOs), but they are going the extra mile to offer access to what could be the world's largest listing because the deals are lucrative and come at a time when the pandemic has hit new business growth.