China’s regulators hold talks with Jack Ma, Ant execs on online lending rules draft

The People’s Bank of China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange held the talks with Ma, executive chairman Eric Jing, and CEO Simon Hu, according to a statement by CSRC.

Responding to this, an Ant spokesperson told Reuters that the company would “implement the meeting opinions in depth.”

This comes as the People’s Bank of China and CSRC issued draft rules for online micro-lending. It requires that lenders offering loans across different regions should have at least 5 billion yuan (US$747 million) of registered capital.

According to the report, the draft comes as China’s regulators fear “rising defaults and deteriorating asset quality” amid a pandemic-hit economy. These regulators now pay much more attention to banks that rely heavily on micro-lenders or third-party technology platforms for underwriting consumer loans.

Ant Group, which owns Alipay, dominates the mobile payment market in China. With its dual initial public offering on the horizon, it’s looking to raise US$34.5 billion, which could become the biggest listing in the world.

Currency converted from Chinese yuan to US dollar: US$1 = 6.69 yuan.