Ant Group was interviewed by the regulatory authorities again on December 26. Although the four departments that participated in the interview were the People’s Bank of China, the CBRC, the SFC and the Foreign Exchange Bureau, according to the Chinese official media, the interview was “a concrete measure to implement the spirit of the Central Political Bureau meeting and the Central Economic Work Conference”, so the four departments were more like “under orders The interview is more like a “special order”.
Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, answered the media on behalf of the four regulators about the interview. According to Southern Weekend, the main content of the interview was to point out the main problems of Ant Group and put forward five major rectification requirements for it.
The main problems pointed out to Ant Group include: indifference to legal awareness, defiance of regulatory requirements and illegal arbitrage; exclusion of fellow operators; and damage to consumer rights and interests, which led to consumer complaints.
The five major rectifications Ant Group was asked to make were: First, return to the origin of payment, improve the transparency of transactions and strictly prohibit unfair competition. Second, to license and legally comply with the law to operate personal credit business and protect the privacy of personal data. Third, establish financial holding companies in accordance with the law, strictly implement regulatory requirements, and ensure adequate capital and transaction compliance. Fourth, improve corporate governance, rectify irregular credit and insurance, wealth management and other activities. Fifth, carry out securities and fund business in accordance with the law, strengthen the governance of securities-type institutions, and carry out asset securitization business in compliance.
Ma’s Ant Group was interviewed jointly by the four departments mentioned above in early November this year before it was scheduled to go public, and was announced by the authorities to suspend its listing the following day. Then, on Dec. 24, China’s State Administration of Market Supervision announced that it had opened a case to investigate the monopolistic practices of Jack Ma‘s Alibaba. The move sent Alibaba’s stock price into heavy decline. Jack Ma was then thrown into the crater of public opinion.
However, it seems that Xi Jinping does not yet have the power to eat the giant ant in one bite. According to Chinese official media Xinhua, which today reprinted comments from the Economic Daily about Ant Group being interviewed again: “Strict regulation is also generous love, set rules to go right. For the fintech industry, tighter regulation is not a “winter” but a new starting point for better and healthier development.
According to this commentary in the official media, it seems that Ant Group still has a way to live, perhaps “not to lose a piece of meat”.
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