China to lay down new payment antirtust rules that may affect Ant, Tencent

According to draft rules published by the People’s Bank of China, any non-bank payment firm with at least 50% of the online transaction market or two such companies with a combined two-thirds market share could be subject to antitrust investigations.

According to the report, Alipay and WeChat Pay currently hold a majority of China’s mobile payments market. Alibaba’s offering reportedly has a 55.6% share of the market, while Tencent’s bet holds 38.8%, according to data from iResearch.

Once a monopoly is proven, the central bank can then suggest that the cabinet lay down restrictive measures, including segmenting the company by its business type.

“This shows there’s no letup in regulatory tightening on the sprawling fintech businesses,” Zhongguancun Internet Finance Institute researcher Dong Ximiao told Bloomberg. “The rules fill the void of defining market monopoly in China’s payments industry.”

See also: WeChat vs. Alipay: The heated battle between China’s super apps

The development comes as Alipay, WeChat Pay, QQ Wallet, and several other Chinese apps face bans in the US over national security concerns.