China Warns Ant Group from Monopoly Policy

China’s market regulators ordered Today ''Ant Group'', the world’s largest financial technology company, to rectify its businesses and comply with regulatory requirements amid increased scrutiny of anti-monopoly practices in the country’s internet sector.

The statement reported that Ant Group lacked a sound governance mechanism, defied regulatory compliance requirements and engaged in regulatory arbitrage. It also announced that the company used its market position to exclude rivals and hurt the rights and interests of consumers.

In contrast, Ant Group explained in a statement that it would comply with regulatory requirements and enhance risk management and control, and that a working group would be set up to make the necessary rectifications.

Last month, the market regulators stopped Ant’s $37 billion stock debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong over regulatory changes, and comes just days after China announced an anti-monopoly investigation of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, which owns a 33% stake in Ant Group. Meanwhile, Ant Group, which started out as a payments services for Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao, has since expanded to offer insurance and investment products to its hundreds of millions of users in China.

Later, the regulators met with executives of Alibaba and five other major Chinese internet companies and warned them not to abuse their dominance to drive out competitors through use of exclusive contracts, predatory pricing and other tactics.