Ant Group’s chairman Eric Jing breaks silence after halt in largest global IPO with a corporate ‘check-up’ and rehabilitation plan
- Ant has conducted a comprehensive self-review, akin to a ‘body check-up’
- Ant Group’s Eric Jing promises to align business with national development priorities in the next five years and pledges greater transparency
Ant Group has conducted a thorough review of its operations and will fully align itself with national-development priorities across the next five years, said executive chairman Eric Jing in his first public comments since Chinese regulators suspended the firm’s US$37 billion initial public offering.
“If you’re going to be disruptive in such a heavily regulated industry as finance, there is a duty of care to be transparent,” said former IBM executive Richard Turrin, who is writing a book on fintech in China. “Jing’s comments are exactly what the market needs to hear, and they are Ant Group’s first step in getting its IPO back on track.”
Jing, who is also a major shareholder in Ant Group, said that the operator of China’s largest payments app, Alipay, has been managing the aftermath of the failed listing plan during the past month, under the guidance of the regulators.