Ant gets approval to expand its consumer finance business

Ant Group’s consumer finance unit has received approval to more than double its registered capital, a sign of progress in resolving regulators’ concerns.
Since the abrupt suspension of its massive IPO in late 2020, Ant has been working with Chinese regulators to restructure its business. Alibaba owns 33% of Ant, which operates one of China’s two dominant mobile pay apps.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong-traded shares traded 8% higher Wednesday. Shares listed in New York closed 4.4% higher overnight.Ant launched its consumer finance company in 2021 as part of the restructuring.
On Friday, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said it approved Ant’s request to increase the amount of registered capital for the consumer unit, to 18.5 billion yuan from 8 billion yuan.

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