China President Xi Jinping wants more crackdowns on technology companies exhibiting monopolistic behavior.
Xi has told China's regulatory agencies including State Administration for Market Regulation to extend their crackdowns on the financial activities of technology companies.
The central government is concerned over the increasing power technology companies wield in the financial sector. Ant Group, which owns Alipay, China's largest digital payment company with volume of $18 billion, now commands more than half the mobile payments market in China. Ant is an affiliate of the Alibaba Group.
Xi said these companies need to be better regulated to maintain social stability. He asserted "all financial activities must be included in financial regulations" while defending the necessity of strengthening financial regulation of the internet sector.
In November 2020, the central government forced Ant to cancel its $35 billion share sale in Shanghai and Hong Kong, derailing the world's biggest initial public offering.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma was summoned for "supervisory interviews" by regulators. The government said there was a "significant change" in the regulatory environment and these "major issues could lead to your company no longer complying with requirements on listing or information disclosure."
Last week, the administration fined 12 technology companies for deals it claimed violated the country's anti-monopoly laws.
The administration said the deals violated China's antimonopoly.
In early February, the State Council issued antitrust guidelines for China's online economy. The guidelines gave specified guidance including but not limited to monopoly agreements, abuse of dominance and concentration of undertakings in the context of platform economy.
