The Hangzhou-based company may create a separate mobile application for the lending business, currently operating under the brand names Huabei and Jiebei. Ant was called in for a regulatory meeting by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) in April 2021, and told it had to cut its consumer lending ties as part of regulators’ expectations of how the group should restructure and rectify its businesses.
Launched in 2014 and 2015, respectively, Huabei and Jiebei offer consumer loans to Alipay users. Huabei, for example, allows Alipay users who do not have credit cards to make online and offline purchases and repay the amount through monthly instalments in up to 12 months.
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