Regulators: Fintech giant Ant Group defied rules, must stop 'unfair competition'
E-commerce mammoth Alibaba's affiliated fintech company Ant Group defied regulations and used its market-leading power to squeeze competition and hurt consumers, China's authorities said in a statement released on Sunday after summoning the company for a talk.
The authorities also urged the company to enhance transparency in business transactions, avoid unfair competition and obtain permits to conduct personal credit business. Ant was also asked to rectify its financial businesses in the areas of loans, insurance and wealth management.
After Ant's IPO was abruptly halted in November, which would have been the world's largest IPO ever raising about $35 billion, the company that evolved from a PayPal-like online payment business into a fintech empire covering a variety of online banking and financing businesses, has been under regulatory overhaul as authorities warned it of monopoly and unregulated business expansion.
