Longer lasting implications from the Ant fiasco may come in the less eye-catching area of fintech regulation. In this field, China’s battles may be instructive to the wider world because its financial technology companies — such as Ant, Tencent’s WeBank and the US-listed Lufax — rank among industry leaders both in terms of size and technological prowess.
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Ant posed threat to China’s centralized control
But from Beijing’s perspective, a fintech future conceals one big risk: authorities may have to surrender too much control, both to the algorithms and to the companies, such as Ant. As one Chinese state banker told the Financial Times after the Ant IPO suspension last week, the attitude of China’s regulators is simple: “If I don’t understand you and can’t control you, I won’t let you grow”.
