He People’s Bank of China has imposed on Ant Groupa subsidiary of Alibaba, a fine of about 985 million dollars for violating various laws and regulations. Among them several related to corporate governance, consumer protection and the requirements to prevent money laundering, according to CBNC.
The fine, which ends several years of investigation and has also led to a restructuring of Ant Group, is one of the largest imposed on an Internet company. The investigation also implied the halt in 2020 of the group’s IPO, with which it expected to obtain a valuation of 37,000 million dollars.
Since then, Ant Group, from which. Alibaba owns 33% of the shares, has been the subject of a thorough investigation, and has had to convert into a financial holding company, so it is under the supervision of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).
Despite the fine, there are signs that the company has again managed to win the trust of the Chinese authorities after making several changes to its structure and operation. One example of this is the authorization it received in January to expand its consumer finance division.
For its part, the People’s Bank of China has stated that most of the main problems of the finance companies of companies considered as platforms, such as Ant Group, have already been corrected. The central bank is now in a position of «standard supervision«, with respect to these platforms, which suggests that the strict measures they had taken with respect to them, such as fines, they may be starting to unwind.
Ant Group, for its part, has assured that it will comply “with the terms of the penalty with complete seriousness and sincerity“, in addition to promising to continue improving in terms of governance. This is likely to bring a possible IPO closer to the company, although its value has fallen sharply since the investigation into its operations began.
