BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank on Sunday called on the Ant Group to draw up a concrete plan as soon as possible to meet regulatory requirements and to fully understand the seriousness of its “rectification” work.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) also called on Ant to rectify illegal financial activities, including in its credit, insurance and wealth management business, and to regulate its credit rating activity to protect personal information, the deputy said. Governor Pan Gongsheng a day after meeting with representatives of the fintech group.
Chinese regulators abruptly suspended Ant’s planned $ 37 billion public offering last month, which was about to be the largest in the world, just two days before its shares began trading in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Kong.
Ant did not immediately respond to a request for comment via email.
On Thursday, authorities said they had launched an antitrust investigation into the parent group Alibaba and that they would summon Ant in the coming days, the last blow for e-commerce and Jack Ma’s fintech empire.
PBOC’s demands also include that Ant be more transparent about its third-party payment transactions and not engage in unfair competition, and that the establishment of financial holding companies comply with the law to ensure capital adequacy, Pan said.
China’s annual economic working conference, a gathering of top political leaders and policymakers to set the course for the economy in 2021, promised this month to strengthen antitrust efforts and curb “disorderly capital expansion.”
Pan said Ant needs to step up its risk management and maintain the continuity of its services and the normal operations of its business.
During the hearing, regulators highlighted Ant issues, including poor corporate governance, defiance of regulatory requirements, arbitrary illegal regulation, use of its market advantage to eliminate competitors and harm the legal interests of consumers, he said.
Reporting by Stella Qiu, Cheng Leng, Yilei Sun and Ryan Woo; Mountainous of William Mallard