{"id":44210,"date":"2020-11-04T00:33:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T00:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44210"},"modified":"2020-11-04T00:33:46","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T00:33:46","slug":"ant-group-cant-proceed-with-ipo-until-it-fixes-capital-shortfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44210","title":{"rendered":"Ant Group can\u2019t proceed with IPO until it fixes capital shortfall"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Bloomberg\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The fintech giant will have to overhaul some of its business to meet all of China\u2019s new regulations, which took effect on November 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Chinese regulators have told Ant Group Co. it can\u2019t proceed with an initial public offering until after it complies with new capital requirements and other restrictions imposed on the country\u2019s financial conglomerates at the start of this month.<\/p>\n

Ant will have to make changes that include capital increases at its lucrative micro-lending units, people familiar with the matter said. The fintech giant must also reapply for licenses for the units to operate nationwide, the people added, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how extensively Ant will have to overhaul its business to meet all of China\u2019s new regulations, which have been widely anticipated for months but only took effect on Nov. 1. Representatives for Ant and China\u2019s securities regulator couldn\u2019t immediately comment on the issue after business hours.<\/p>\n

The Shanghai Stock Exchange cited a \u201csignificant change\u201d in the regulatory environment when it unexpectedly put a stop to Ant\u2019s $35bn share sale on Tuesday, upending what would have been the biggest market debut in world history. The move came just two days before Ant was due to start trading and a day after Jack Ma, the company\u2019s billionaire founder, was summoned to a rare joint meeting with the country\u2019s central bank and three other top financial regulators.<\/p>\n

Ant \u2014 whose businesses span payments, lending, asset management and insurance \u2014 said on Monday it would \u201cimplement the meeting opinions in depth\u201d and follow guidelines including stable innovation, an embrace of supervision and service to the real economy.<\/p>\n

The company long operated with less oversight than traditional financial companies, but has recently come under growing regulatory scrutiny as part of China\u2019s push to rein in systemic risks. On Monday, the banking regulator released another round of draft rules that would force Ant and other operators of online lending platforms to fund a greater share of the loans they offer together with banks.<\/p>\n

Ant has faced censure in Chinese state media in recent days after Ma criticized local and global regulators for stifling innovation and not paying sufficient heed to development and opportunities for the young. At a Shanghai conference late last month, he compared the Basel Accords, which set out capital requirements for banks, to a club for the elderly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fintech giant will have to overhaul some of its business to meet all of China\u2019s new regulations, which took effect on November 1.Chinese regulators have told Ant Group Co. it can\u2019t proceed with an initial public offering until after it complies with new capital requirements and other restrictions imposed on the country\u2019s financial conglomerates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}