China is tightening the thumbscrews on its tech industry.
The government in Beijing wants to smash the highly profitable AliPay payment app from the fintech group Ant Group and create a separate platform for the company's lending business, the Financial Times wrote on Sunday.
The plan also provides that Ant must hand over the user data underlying his credit decisions to a new joint venture for credit checks.
This is partially state-owned, the newspaper reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The party strengthens its control
The move is part of a series of measures by which China's authorities tighten their oversight of many industries - from technology to education.
This is intended to strengthen the Communist Party's control over the economy and society after years of rapid growth.
Ant was already targeted by regulators in the fall of last year: China's authorities thwarted the company's planned IPO and thus also burdened the parent company Alibaba. Just two days before the planned debut on the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong, the financial supervisory authority criticized Alibaba founder Jack Ma for the fact that the disclosure requirements would probably not be met due to changed regulations. Shortly before the finish line, China's industry leader in mobile payments, the world's largest IPO at more than $ 37 billion, broke.