Legend has it that Ant Group has refused to fully hand over customer data despite pressure from China

Ant Group is rumored to have cited privacy regulations, noting that it must first obtain user approval before handing over customer data to the People’s Bank of China.

Ant Group’s IPO (initial public offering) was blocked last year and claimed it would switch to being regulated by the People’s Bank of China, and it is rumored that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to use this to obtain Ant’s consumer data, but according to foreign media reports, Ant Group, which has 500 million loan customers, has now handed over some of their customers’ identities, monthly borrowing amounts and debt repayment status to the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Bank, and the Chinese Communist Party is not satisfied with Ant’s progress in providing customer data.

According to sources quoted by the Financial Times, Ant Group has 500 million loan customers and has information on the identity, monthly borrowing amount and debt repayment status of their customers. After its failed IPO, Ant Group had promised to surrender customer data to the CCP’s central bank, and the group has now handed over a small portion of the data. The Chinese Communist Party appears quite dissatisfied with Ant Group’s progress in sharing its data.

According to the report, Ant Group has cited privacy regulations as the reason, pointing out that user approval is required before customer data can be handed over to the PBOC, and only a small number of customers have agreed to share their data; in addition, Ant Group has not implemented the measures promoted by the PBOC, including: consumers will be required to agree to share data as a condition for using Ant Group’s services.

Sources familiar with the matter said that Ant Group has already shared consumer credit data from its “Flower Chant” and “Debit Chant” financial services with the credit center of the People’s Bank of China. The report said that the Chinese government has asked Ant Group to disclose further customer data.

The report also noted that the PBOC is trying to create a credit database to evaluate consumer credit loans. Both Ant Group and PABC declined to comment on the report.