Jack Ma’s Ant Group Agrees to Restructure After Pressure From China’s Regulators

Chinese regulators have agreed a restructuring plan with Ant Group that will combine all its business segments, including its blockchain business, into a financial holding company.

• As a financial holding company, Ant would be subject to capital requirements like those for banks, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.
• The group had previously proposed only including its financial segments in the holding company.
• An official announcement on plan is expected before the start of China’s New Year holiday on Feb. 12.
• The restructure is part of a Chinese government campaign to increase supervision of the fintech sector.
• In November, Ant Group’s expected $35 billion initial public offering was suspended on both the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges supposedly due to changes in China’s regulatory environment for fintech firms.
• Jack Ma, who founded Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Group, had been keeping a low-profile since October when he criticized China’s financial system and its state-dominated banking sector at a Shanghai event.
• Ant Group has its own blockchain, AntChain, building off it to launch a cross-border trading platform in September.

Read more: Jack Ma’s Ant Group, 3 Other Digital Banks Get OK to Operate in Singapore