PBOC Targets Ma Yun's Ant Group... Plans to Establish Fintech Task Force Within the Year

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The People's Bank of China, the central bank of China, has decided to establish a dedicated agency to supervise fintech companies.

According to Xinhua News Agency on the 1st, the People's Bank of China recently held a meeting of the Financial Science and Technology Committee and decided to establish an organization called the "Financial Science and Technology Risk Control Center" within the year to strengthen financial technology supervision.

This organization plans to oversee the activities of China's fintech companies, including Ant Group, a fintech affiliate controlled by Alibaba, which is dominated by Ma Yun.

The People's Bank of China stated, "Rules and standards related to financial technology supervision must be completed within this year."

Ma Yun, the founder of Alibaba, strongly criticized at an event held in Shanghai on October 24 last year, attended by high-ranking officials including Wang Qishan, Vice President of China, and Yi Gang, Governor of the People's Bank of China, saying, "Chinese financial authorities still have not escaped the 'pawnshop business' that requires collateral to grant loans."

Since then, the Ant Group's IPO, which was expected to be the world's largest, has been indefinitely postponed, and Chinese authorities have been strengthening regulations on Alibaba Group's core businesses such as e-commerce and fintech under the pretexts of antitrust and personal data protection.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.