China says measures applied to Ant Group to be imposed on other payment firms

BEIJING: China's central bank said on Thursday that anti-monopoly measures applied to e-commerce giant Alibaba's financial technology affiliate Ant Group will also be imposed on other payment service companies.

China suspended the planned $37 billion listing of Ant Group in November last year amid growing concerns over banks using third-party technology platforms like Ant for underwriting loans amid fears of rising defaults and a deterioration in asset quality.

Chinese regulators, led by the central bank, in April imposed a sweeping restructuring on the fintech giant, forcing it to turn itself into a financial holding firm, and to cut links between its payments app Alipay and its other businesses.

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"Monopolistic behavior does not only exist in the Ant Group, but also in other institutions," said Fan Yifei, vice governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), told a media conference in Beijing.

Fan added that measures will be revealed soon, without further elaboration.

Fan said the speed of development of China's payment industry is "rapid" over the past few years, but at the same time, there are "monopoly and excessive capital expansions during (its) development".