Ant Group CEO Simon Hu resigns

Beijing, Mar 13 (efe-epa).- Simon Hu has resigned as CEO of Ant Group, a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, four months after the company canceled its mega initial public offering amid regulatory changes.

Ant president Eric Jing will take over as CEO, Alibaba reported on Saturday in a statement sent to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Hu’s resignation comes as Ant seeks to comply with the requirements of Chinese regulators, who are imposing increased scrutiny on their country’s tech giants.

In another statement published on Friday night, Alibaba said that Ant had just approved new internal disciplinary rules for its subsidiary with duties and obligations regarding the protection of consumer rights and their data.

Hu’s exit comes four months after the cancellation at the last minute of Ant group’s IPO, which, had it taken place on Nov. 5 as planned, would have been the largest operation of its kind in history.

In recent months, the relationship of the Beijing authorities with the large Chinese digital firms has soured, especially with those that have large subsidiaries dedicated to the fintech sector, such as Alibaba and Tencent.

The president of the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and number two of the Chinese central bank, Guo Shuqing, recently assured that China will supervise fintech in a “special” way.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Assembly, a body that ended its annual congress Friday, is expected to review the country’s antitrust law to “rectify irregularities in the market” and “better regulate” digital conglomerates so that their businesses abide by rules, scrutiny and transparency, according to analysts quoted by the state Global Times newspaper. EFE-EPA

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