China’s crackdown on Jack Ma’s empire is far from over: the country’s regulators have ordered the Ant Group, an affiliate founded by Ma, Alibaba, to reduce its business. In particular, they ordered the company to “return to its origins” as a payment provider. Ant Group started out as Alipay, which has become China’s largest digital payment platform, although it has expanded to offer investments and savings accounts, as well as loans, insurance and wealth management services. Pan Gongsheng, the deputy governor of China’s central bank, called these services “illegal” and said the company should “strictly rectify” these activities. Like The Guardian noted, these services are the group’s most profitable and fastest growing divisions.
Gongsheng listed all the steps that the Ant Group should take as ordered by Chinese regulators in a statement posted on the bank’s official website. Those requirements include banning unfair competition, improving corporate governance and ensuring that everything you do is “in accordance with the law” As for the company, he said The Guardian in a statement that it would form a “rectification working group” to implement these requirements. A spokesman explained: