In this Friday, Oct. 23, 2020 photo, the figure of Ant Group's mascot is displayed at the Ant Group office in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
By Zen Soo
The Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended first-day trading in Ant Group on the Shanghai stock exchange just before its scheduled listing Thursday.
The exchange cited changes in the financial technology regulatory environment after regulators held a meeting Monday with senior Ant Group executives, including founder Jack Ma.
“This material event may cause your company to fail to meet the issuance and listing conditions or information disclosure requirements,” the stock market operator said in a statement issued to Ant Group.
Ant Group did not immediately comment.
In a statement issued on Monday, the People’s Bank of China, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the Securities Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said they had conducted “regulatory interviews” with Ma, Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing, and its president, Hu Xiaoming.
No further details about the meetings were disclosed by the authorities or Ant Group, although such a move by regulators is typically seen as a warning or dressing down of sorts.
Ant Group’s shares were due to begin trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai on Thursday, Nov. 5, after it was expected to raise at least $34.5 billion in what would have been the world’s biggest stock sale. Retail investors in Shanghai had placed bids for nearly $3 trillion worth of shares.
The company has come under increased scrutiny and tighter regulation as it has expanded the range of financial technology services it offers. Among the new regulations in recent months are caps on the use of asset-backed securities to fund consumer loans, new capital and licensing requirements and caps on lending rates.
On Monday, the central bank raised the registered capital requirement for lenders like Ant to a minimum of 5 billion yuan ($747 million).
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
