Ant Group could be hit with one of China's largest-ever fines, as authorities look to conclude an investigation into the fintech giant founded by billionaire Jack Ma.
Shares in sister company Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA), which owns 33% of Ant, gained over 5.8% in New York on Friday.
A fine of "at least 8bn yuan" (US$1.1bn or £0.9bn) is expected to be coming Ant's way from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) today, Reuters reported.
Regulators at the central bank have accused the company, which runs the ubiquitous Alipay mobile payments app, of being involved in anti-competitive activities and flouting regulatory standards, similar charges that were also levelled at sister company Alibaba.
This saw Ant's US$37bn IPO blocked in late 2020, with the PBOC ordering the group to overhaul major aspects of its business, including returning to its original business as a payment services provider, improving corporate governance and overhauling its credit rating services.
Earlier this year Ma also gave up control of Ant as part of the restructuring, selling down his 50% stake to less than 10%.
The crackdown on Ant and Alibaba came shortly after Ma said at a conference that “Chinese finance has no system” and said banks have a “pawn shop mentality” when it comes to lending.
If fined 8bn yuan it would be as big as China's previous record fine for an internet company, when ride-hailing group Didi was punished for data violations last year, but not as much as the 18bn yuan fine for Alibaba in 2021 as part of an anti-monopoly probe.
--Updates with US share price--