Shares in Alibaba,the e-commerce company founded by Mr Ma that controls Ant,fell 5 per cent in Hong Kong on the new state crackdown,first reported by theFinancial Times. Ant spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment.
In November,Ant was forced to shelve plans for a $US200 billion ($271 billion) float at the last minute after an intervention by Chinese regulators.
State watchdogs have come down hard on Alipay’s vast short-term loans business. In the first half of 2020,its loans division made up 39 per cent of its -revenues and had a total loan book worth 2.1 trillion yuan.
They have also sought tocurtail the rise of Ma,the 57-year-old billionaire who founded Alibaba in 1999,who had grown increasingly outspoken against China’s financial strictures.
Alipay’s app combines digital payments with dozens of other financial products such as lending,insurance and wealth management.
China’s plans will see Alipay’s Huabei product,similar to a credit card with 190 million users,and its Jiebei service,a loans product used by close to 500 million people,combined into a separate app.