Many analysts saw the move as sensible,even if the timing was disruptive. Chinese regulators said Ant's business model effectively allowed it to charge higher fees for transactions while state-run banks took on most of the risk. At the same time Ant sought to list,authorities were racing to develop rules that would subject financial holding companies to higher capital requirements. It's also planning to create a digital yuan,which is part of its push to maintain control over the stability of its payment system.

At a conference in Shanghai on October 24,Ma blamed global regulators for focusing too much on risk,and criticised China's own measures for stifling innovation. The remarks came after Vice President Wang Qishan - a Xi confidante - called for a balance between financial innovation and strong regulations to prevent financial risks.

Moves like this do very little to alleviate concerns that tech companies going out are not having their strings pulled by Beijing.

Kendra Schaefer,head of digital research at the Trivium China consultancy in Beijing.

"It appeared that,intentionally or not,Ma was openly defying and criticising the Chinese government's approach to financial regulation,"Andrew Batson,China research director at Gavekal Research,wrote in a note.

Ma's comments came right before the Communist Party held a key meeting to plan the country's economy for the next 15 years,bringing the issues of technology,financial stability and economic growth to the top of the national agenda. After it ended last week,regulators released new rules affecting Ant's businesses and summoned Ma to Beijing for a rare meeting on Monday. The IPO was suspended the next day.

Within China,state-run media have highlighted Ant's failures to comply with regulatory requirements while showcasing the government's strong market supervision mechanisms and risk controls to protect consumers. In a commentary dated late Tuesday,the party-backed Economic Daily said suspending the IPO showed that"every link of the capital market has perfect rules and serious supervision methods."

"It's understandable from the regulatory perspective and it is still a better outcome for investors than facing a black-swan event immediately after the listing,"said Lv Changshun,an analyst at Beijing Zhonghe Yingtai Management Consultant."Policymakers can tolerate innovation,but that should not be at the cost of a systemic financial risk. Avoiding that risk is an important foundation to push forward more capital market reforms."

Chinese authorities have been stepping up oversight of private companies for several years. In 2018,the central bank identified Ant and other firms as financial holding companies,putting them under increased scrutiny because of their growing role in the nation's money flows and financial plumbing.

That same year,regulators seized Anbang Insurance Group,which symbolised the recent era of mega-acquisitive Chinese companies,and imprisoned its former chairman for fraud. HNA Group and Tomorrow Holding were later taken over by the state or broken up,while China Evergrande Group in September is to have warned of a potential cash crunch that could pose systemic risks to China.

Ostentatious and blunt,Ma is perhaps China's most well-known entrepreneur in the communist nation. The globe-trotting tycoon is a special adviser to the United Nations,has debated Elon Musk on international forums,and is a regulator at annual Davos gatherings. He's created two multi-hundred-billion dollar companies and has labelled himself a champion for the little guy and small businesses.

On Wednesday,however,posts on Chinese social-media platforms were largely unsympathetic toward Ma. One anonymous Weibo poster wrote"if you don't go out looking for trouble,trouble won't find you."Another quipped that"it's time for Jack Ma to wake up,listen often and speak less."

Despite Ma's public dressing down and the reputational blow to China's markets,many investors are still optimistic about Ant's IPO. Higher liquidity requirements would hit sentiment,but that's not necessarily a bad thing for a listing that saw shares selling for a 50 per cent premium in gray-market trading ahead of the IPO.

For global investors,however,the episode is likely to reinforce the notion that the party calls all the shots when it comes to major business decisions - and any opening measures will be carefully calibrated for the impact on the Communist Party. That could be all the more important in the years ahead as China seeks to develop its own core technologies in the face of growing pressure from the US,which is likely to continue no matter who ends up the winner of Tuesday's election.

"This sends a signal to the major tech players not to get too big for their britches and that the party is still in charge,"said Kendra Schaefer,head of digital research at the Trivium China consultancy in Beijing."Internationally,however,moves like this do very little to alleviate concerns that tech companies going out are not having their strings pulled by Beijing."

Bloomberg