The Chinese financial service provider Ant Group is going to provide less loans to consumers in cooperation with banks. For some time now, the Chinese supervisor has been hinting at possible measures to reduce these loans, after which Ant and the banks decided to set a ceiling on the loans themselves, writes Bloomberg press office based on Insiders.
Ant has grown particularly hard in recent years due to its consumer credit, which it offered in cooperation with many Chinese banks. Almost two thirds of fintech’s turnover came from there in the first half of last year.
This rapid growth should have led to the most expensive stock market ever, but it was recently banned by the authorities. Beijing considered that Ant did not comply with new directives. That step came after founder Jack Ma, who is also behind Ant’s parent company, Alibaba, criticised the Chinese rulers for stopping innovation in the financial sector.
By now, Ant would have reached an agreement with the financial supervisors on the regulation. In doing so, Ant should meet similar requirements as a bank. All parts of Ant should also be placed in a financial holding company. The fintech had previously tried to keep its technological offer, for example in the field of blockchain and meal delivery out of the equation. Previous speculation that Ant might be forced to divest parts now seems unlikely.
