The move underlines a broader push by Ant and other Chinese tech majors, including Tencent and Bytedance, to bulk up in financial services closer to home as they battle mounting scrutiny for their technology business overseas and a Sino-US standoff. Ant, 33% owned by ecommerce company Alibaba Group Holding, has already amassed a range of financial licenses, including payments, online banking, insurance, and micro lending to operate in China's financial market valued at trillions of dollars.
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