With Jack Ma’s Ant Group reined in, China’s central bank sets sights on other fintech firms’ monopolistic behaviour
- Many mobile payment companies have breached the country’s anti-monopoly law, not just Ant Group, says central bank official
- PCOB’s measures may slow down fintech firms’ development but will lead to healthy development of the sector in the long term
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will continue to crack down on mainland payment companies’ practices that fall afoul of the country’s anti-monopoly law, with a senior central bank official pointing out that billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group was not singled out for such behaviour.
WeChat Pay operator Tencent and food delivery firm Meituan did not reply to requests for comment.
The PBOC’s pledge to clean up the payment industry’s malpractices comes just two days after the State Council, China’s cabinet, said late on Tuesday that it would undertake a sweeping overhaul of its regulations on how companies raised capital, both domestically and overseas.
“The central bank’s widening crack down on malpractices of online payment companies may slow down their development in the near term, but it will help China to develop its fintech market in a healthy and orderly manner,” said Gordon Tsui, chairman of Hong Kong Securities Association. “It will create a fair market and enhance customer protection.”
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What is Jack Ma’s Ant Group and how does it make money?
China in February issued new antitrust guidelines targeting internet platforms, creating an important tool for Beijing to crack down on monopolistic practices such as forcing merchants to choose only one online channel or charging different prices for clients.
China’s top financial regulators in April also summoned 13 of the country’s technology companies that run online financial businesses, including Tencent and Tik Tok-owner ByteDance, and told them to step up anti-monopoly measures and to halt “the disorderly expansion of capital”.