If investors in Ant Group were hoping China’s biggest fintech would rapidly bounce back from the last-minute suspension of its $37bn listing last week, Beijing was quick to disappoint them.
In comments that capped off a disastrous week for Ant and Jack Ma, the group’s controlling shareholder and China’s richest man, the banking regulator suggested it would begin treating fintechs more like banks — a move that could drastically slash their valuations and attractiveness to investors.
“In accordance with fintech’s financial nature, we will bring all financial activities under a unified scope of supervision,” Liu Fushou, chief legal counsel at the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said on Friday.