China’s central bank said on Thursday that anti-monopoly measures applied to e-commerce giant Alibaba’s financial technology affiliate Ant Group will also be imposed on other payment service companies.
China suspended the planned $37 billion listing of Ant Group in November last year amid growing concerns over banks using third-party technology platforms like Ant for underwriting loans amid fears of rising defaults and a deterioration in asset quality.
Chinese regulators, led by the central bank, in April imposed a sweeping restructuring on the fintech giant, forcing it to turn itself into a financial holding firm, and to cut links between its payments app Alipay and its other businesses.