Ant Group to differentiate its consumer loan business Jiebei from bank loans - P...

Ant Group to differentiate its consumer loan business Jiebei from bank loans

Ant Group to differentiate its consumer loan business Jiebei from bank loans

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Ant Group said on Monday that it is making efforts to differentiate its consumer loan business Jiebei from bank loans.

"Jiebei is gradually working on brand differentiation," an Ant Group spokeperson told Reuters, adding that consumer credit services provided independently by banks or other financial institutions will be presented on a "credit loan" page.

Citing borrowers, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Sunday that the Jiebei platform had changed to show which loans were provided by Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co and which were provided by banks.

Since Ant’s mega IPO was halted in November last year, Chinese regulators have been increasing their supervision on the fintech affiliate of Alibaba. In April, Chinese regulators asked Ant to execute a broad corporate reorganization, including combining Jiebei and virtual credit card unit Huabei into a new consumer finance firm. 

After Ant Financial was approved to start operations in Chongqing in June, regulators have ordered the company to complete the branding restructuring of Huabei and Jiebei within 6 months, local media the 21st Century Business Herald reported earlier.

By delivering easy-to-use payments, borrowing, and investing to hundreds of millions of smartphone users across China, Ant Group posed a challenge to China's state-dominated banking system.

As Beijing tightens its grip over the fintech sector, Ant Financial is working hard to cope with policy changes. In September, Huabei began to send its consumer credit data to a database run by China's central bank.

According to Ant's IPO prospectus, in the 12 months ending June 30, 2020, 500 million users used Huabei and Jiebei.

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