The Chinese financial services company Ant could end the regulatory process that has been going on for two years with a fine of more than a billion dollars (about 980 million euros). The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has been in informal talks with Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s company about the fine for several months, according to several insiders.
Ant put its $37 billion IPO on hold in November 2020 after the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges rejected payment processor approval for the listing. Ant operates the dominant payment service in China with Alipay and also offers loan, insurance and asset management services.
Last year, Ant was fined a record $2.51 billion for antitrust violations. The fines are part of Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on the country’s technology giants, which have collectively cost hundreds of billions of dollars in value and slashed revenues and profits.
But against the backdrop of China’s declining economy due to the coronavirus lockdown, Chinese authorities have softened their tone on the crackdown on the technology in recent months.
New attempt at the stock market?
It now plans to hold further talks with other regulators about Ant’s corporate restructuring later this year and to impose the fine in the second quarter of 2023, one of the insiders said. Ant and PBOC were initially unavailable for comment.
The PBOC, which is directing Ant’s restructuring after the 2020 IPO cancellation, is the regulator preparing the fine, people familiar with the situation said. A fine could pave the way for Ant to secure a long-sought financial holding license and a fresh start in the stock market.
Ant has officially undergone a major corporate reorganization since April last year, which has seen the company become a financial holding company, subject to similar rules and capital requirements to banks, among other things.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
