A senior official from China’s central bank said that Jack Ma’s Ant Group was not singled out for monopolistic behavior, adding that other payment platforms could face the same fate.
«Ant Group is not the only company that engages in monopolistic behavior, while in fact there are other payment companies in China with similar misconduct issues,» said Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, during a media briefing on Thursday.
According to Fan, the PBoC «continues to support the payment industry to grow faster and better, but at the same time we would also crackdown on any misconduct or malpractice in the sector».
Fan also added that actions taken against Ant could also apply to other payment platforms engaging in malpractice.
Widened Net
Since the reversal of Ant’s mega IPO in November last year, Chinese authorities have gradually widened the regulatory net for tech firms.
In April, China’s top financial regulators summoned 13 tech giants in the mainland that run financial businesses and told them to step up anti-monopoly measures.
Earlier this week, Didi was the latest firm to feel the tech crackdown after China’s cybersecurity watchdog launched a probe against the ride-hailing giant and regulators announced a decision to revise overseas listing rules.
