Alipay owner Ant Group has appointed current chief financial officer Han Xinyi as its new president, according to an internal email from chairman and CEO Eric Jing on Tuesday. The move is part of the firm’s biggest overhaul since the cancellation of its IPO in late 2020, with the fintech company also deciding to grant three of its units operational independence.

Why it matters: The restructuring is likely to grant more flexibility for businesses within the fintech affiliate universe of Alibaba and is intended to unleash their growth potential under Ant’s globalization strategy.

Details: The reshuffle is “just one of many” in Ant’s future growth, said Jing, adding that, “we will create an environment that encourages more emerging businesses, and creates greater value for society” (our translation).

• Ant International, commercial database OceanBase, and Ant Digital Technology, the three “innovative businesses” that will become independently operated subsidiaries, will set up their own board of directors and reduce their reliance on the group.
• According to a report by Chinese media outlet LatePost, Ant will continue to offer technology and capital support to the three independent units as they are still making a loss, but they are set to launch stock option plans separately in an effort to retain talent.

Context: On Nov. 3, 2020, two days before Jack Ma-founded Ant’s scheduled dual listing debut which was supposed to take place simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shanghai, the major IPO was surprisingly halted by China’s financial regulator. 

• The announcement from the Shanghai Stock Exchange at the time noted that the actual controller, chairman, and CEO of Ant were “called in for regulatory talks by relevant authorities,” which it said might lead to the firm “not meeting the conditions for issuance and listing or the disclosure requirements.”
• China’s primary financial regulatory bodies fined Ant Group and its subsidiaries RMB 71.23 billion last July, a hefty fine that was seen as marking the end of the authorities’ close scrutiny of the fintech giant.

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