China's central bank has ordered Ant Group to rectify its operations and comply with regulatory requirements, according to several media reports.
Billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba holds about 33 percent ownership in Ant Group.
The People's Bank of China, the securities regulators are targeting Ant's lending, wealth management and insurance services, asking the company to stick to its traditional service of facilitating payments, the reports said.
The central bank reportedly has ordered Ant to establish a separate financial holding company to ensure it has sufficient capital to support its operations.
Ant reportedly said it will form a special team to meet the government's demands.
The heightened government pressure follows an antitrust probe by Chinese regulators into Alibaba this past week.
The Chinese Government agency launched a probe into Alibaba's "choosing one from two" practice.
Under the practice, merchants are required to sign exclusive cooperation agreements that prevent them from offering products on rival platforms. The investigation was part of the country's efforts to crack down monopolistic behavior in its internet space. Regulators earlier had warned Alibaba about its practice.
In November, Ant's planned $37 billion initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which was supposed to be the world's largest IPO, was suspended, citing that the company might not meet listing qualifications or disclosure requirement.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.