The People’s Bank of China is warning big technology companies in the country that they will be subject to the same antitrust scrutiny and measures as Alibaba’s FinTech affiliate Ant Group, Reuters reported on Thursday (July 8).
China halted Ant Group’s $37 billion initial public offering (IPO) in November as regulators raised concerns over the growing influence of third-party FinTech startups.
“Monopolistic behavior does not only exist in the Ant Group but also in other institutions,” Fan Yifei, vice governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said during a media conference in Beijing, Reuters reported.
The central bank and regulators from other agencies rolled out new measures in April to restructure Ant Group, which included spinning off Alipay from its other businesses. Ant’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay dominate China’s digital payments landscape.
Fan also said that the fast-growing payment sector included numerous instances where monopolies formed amid “excessive capital expansions,” Reuters reported.
The central bank directed the country’s antitrust commission to explore the dealings of Alipay and WeChat Pay to determine if a full-fledged investigation was warranted, per Reuters. The directive stemmed from both firms’ increasing market influence.
China is seeking to increase its oversight of domestic companies seeking a U.S. public listing. New guidelines are already in place regarding cross-border data security and privacy concerns. The Cyberspace Administration of China recently mandated that app stores in the country remove the app for ride-hail giant Didi.
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