Chinese Regulators Ask Banks to Check Ties With Ant Group

Chinese authorities have said the biggest state-owned firms and banks need to start a fresh round of checks on financial exposure and other links to Ant Group, Bloomberg reported Monday (Feb. 21).

This has started up a fresh round of scrutiny into billionaire Jack Ma’s financial empire.

Regulators, including the banking watchdog, have been saying lately that under their oversight, institutions should look closely at any connections to Ant, its subsidiaries and even its shareholders up to January.

Anonymous sources said this was by far the most incisive probe into Ant’s dealings. The report says it’s not clear what has spurred the latest scrutiny, or what consequences will come of it — though the National Audit Office is leading the initiative.

Ant’s initial public offering (IPO) was snuffed out by authorities in 2020 as they seemed to think the company was getting too big.

Beijing has since been eyeing a crackdown on all aspects of the technology sector in the country, with officials giving out billions in fines for antitrust matters to end the way a few companies had been dominating it all there. President Xi Jinping has been pushing for more “common prosperity.”

The harder looks, regulations and other activities against these companies have caused Alibaba’s shares, and other similar companies’, to fall mightily, with profits seeing a dent and some of them shelving listing plans. PYMNTS reported that China planned to step up its antitrust enforcement as of last December.

Read more: China to Step up Antitrust Enforcement

Chief Gan Lin of the anti-monopoly bureau said the punishments for some monopolistic activity isn’t enough.

PYMNTS wrote that China in late 2021 had been boosting seniority for the unit, with Gan then being promoted — this was intended to add more power to antitrust authorities to look into mergers and acquisitions.

Chin has been ending its old, more free approach to internet regulation, and has been cracking down more on mergers.