Ant Group kicks off the overhaul of its fintech operations under the watchful eyes of China’s central bank and financial regulators
- World’s largest fintech group is drawing up a timetable for restructuring its operations
- Credit services, its most lucrative business, likely to be moved into a financial holding company, industry sources say
Ant Group, controlled by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, has set up a working group to rectify the business practices of the world’s largest financial technology group, under the close watch of China’s central bank and financial regulators.
The Hangzhou-based group, which operates the ubiquitous Alipay electronic payments platform, will also draw up a timetable for the changes under the guidance of regulators, said Chen Yulu, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), during a Friday press conference in Beijing.
Ant Group is working on a rectification programme in accordance with targets set by financial regulators, and will ensure the continuity of its business, the normalcy of its operations and the quality of its services, Chen said, according to Chinese media reports.
China’s financial regulators will notify Ant Group on the parts of its sprawling fintech platform – from asset management to insurance and lending – that need to be regulated as financial institutions, and the portions of the business that need new operating licences. The licenced financial services businesses will then be moved into a holding company and subjected to regulatory scrutiny, according to people familiar with the regulators’ strategy.
China’s State Council has laid out guidelines for establishing a financial holding and said companies must apply to the central bank to do so by November 1, 2021. Ant Group had previously said that it plans to use its wholly owned subsidiary Zhejiang Finance Credit Network Technology as the financial holding company.