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China plots ‘rectification’ drive to bring Jack Ma’s Ant Group to heel
Beijing is accelerating plans to bring Jack Ma’s Ant Group more closely under its control as part of a “rectification” drive that would make it difficult for one of China’s richest men to fully rebuild his online empire.To get more latest ant group news, you can visit shine news official website.
Ant’s consumer lending unit and other fast-growing parts of the financial technology group will be carved out into a new financial holding company to be regulated by the People’s Bank of China, according to people briefed on discussions between the central bank and the company.
The reorganisation would bring Ant directly under the thumb of the regulators Mr Ma has long brushed up against, with public critiques that irked authorities and officials at China’s state-owned banks. The PBoC issued a public rebuke of Ant at the weekend, calling on the company to be overhauled and accusing it of “turning a blind eye to compliance requirements”.
One former regulator said: “The best solution is to break up Ant into a finance unit for its online lending, brokerage and insurance businesses that will be under full regulatory oversight, and a less regulated technology and data unit.”
The plan under consideration for Ant involves shifting its financially-licensed businesses — which include its payments, lending, insurance and wealth management ventures — into a new holding company, the people familiar with the matter said. However, they cautioned that the discussions with regulators were continuing.
“Ant has repeatedly emphasised it’s a technology company and the market valued it as one, but if it’s remade into a financial holding company, it will become a financial institution at heart, and the market will need to revalue it,” said He Zhisong, a lawyer at Zhong Lun, a law firm. “To head off antitrust concerns, Ant may also need to spin off some of its business lines.”
The Wall