Alipay, JD Digits, Didi Finance pull out all bank deposit products: report

China’s banking and insurance regulatory body, CBIRC, announced that it would be monitoring agreements between banks and insurers with fintech companies amid a month-long regulatory clampdown on tech firms in the country.

In December 2020, Alipay, JD Digits, and Didi Finance reportedly closed their app portals which customers often use to increase their existing deposits with banks. Chinese media stated that the outstanding money would be moved back into customers’ bank accounts after deposits hit maturity.

The supposed removal of bank deposit products comes after Ant Group stopped selling bank deposit products on Alipay last month, which was followed by Tencent, JD Digits, and Baidu’s Du Xiaoman.

Earlier in month, the CBIRC prohibited the sale of all bank deposit products, including fixed-time deposits, on third-party internet platforms. However, small regional banks are still allowed to sell time deposits using their own channels.

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Meanwhile, several private banks including Xin’an Bank, Blue Ocean Bank, and Wuxi Xishang Bank said they would move their time-based deposits from third-party apps onto their own applications.

The move marks another setback for Alibaba Group after the Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended Ant Group’s highly anticipated initial public offering in November.