Ant Group IPO sees record $3 trillion in demand

Mom-and-pop savers bet on the success of China's Ant Group by placing bids for a record $3 trillion of shares in the company's IPO.

Ant's dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong is set to be the world's biggest, and could raise about $34.4 billion.

Retail investors are betting on demand for its financial services in China and rushing to buy into the group.

A company filing released Thursday (October 29) showed the Shanghai leg of the IPO drew $2.8 trillion of bids.

The Hong Kong leg - which is backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba - brought in bids totalling $168 billion.

Ant runs Alipay, China's biggest payments platform, and other financial services.

And investors don't seem put off by risks of greater scrutiny at home or abroad.

The $3 trillion in bids - or the equivalent of the UK's entire GDP - comes amid struggling markets and a dour global economic outlook.

Investors in the IPO, however, seem unfazed by company-specific or broader market concerns.

They hope that Ant will continue to benefit from the rapid digitization of financial services in China.