China asks banks, firms to report exposure to Jack Ma’s Ant Group -Bloomberg News

Feb 21 (Reuters) – Chinese authorities have told state-owned firms and banks to start a fresh round of checks on their financial exposure and other links to Ant Group Co Ltd 688688.SS, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Institutions were asked by many regulators, including the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, to closely examine all exposure they had to the Jack Ma-controlled fintech group, its subsidiaries and even its shareholders up to January, the report added.

Ant Group, the payment affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd 9988.HK, declined to comment.

The National Audit Office is leading the initiative, the report said.

Ant has been subjected to a sweeping restructuring by China, whose initial public offering of $37 billion was derailed by regulators in late 2020.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

((Mrinmay.Dey@thomsonreuters.com;))