BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank urged the Ant Group on Sunday to outline a concrete plan as soon as possible to meet regulatory demands and fully understand the seriousness of the “rectification” work that needs to be done.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) also urged Ant to rectify illegal financial activities, including in its credit, insurance and wealth management businesses, and to regulate its credit rating businesses to protect personal information, said Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng , the day after meeting with representatives of the fintech group.
Chinese regulators abruptly suspended Ant’s planned initial public offering of $ 37 billion, which had become the largest in the world, just two days before its shares began trading in Shanghai and Hong Kong last month.
Ant did not immediately respond to a request for comment via email.
On Thursday, officials said they launched an antitrust investigation against Alibaba Group and that they would summon Ant in the next few days, the latest blow to Jack Ma’s fintech and e-commerce empire.
PBOC’s demands also include that Ant is more transparent about its third-party payment transactions and does not lead to unfair competition, and that its constitution of financial holding companies comply with the law to ensure capital adequacy, Pan said.
China’s Annual Central Economic Work Conference, a meeting of key leaders and policymakers to chart the course of the economy in 2021, promised this month to strengthen anti-monopoly efforts and contain “disorderly capital expansion”.
Pan said Ant should step up its risk management and maintain the continuity of its normal business operations and services.
During the meeting, regulators pointed to Ant’s problems, including its poor corporate governance, defiance of regulatory demands, illegal regulatory arbitrage, the use of its market advantage to eliminate competitors and harm consumers’ legal interests, he said.
Reporting by Stella Qiu, Cheng Leng, Yilei Sun and Ryan Woo; William Mallard edition