From: RegTech Analyst
Chinese regulators have given Ant Financial Services permission to change its name to Ant Technology Group, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The reason for the name change in its business registration records could be because the company wants to avoid increasing scrutiny from Chinese financial regulators.
Ant Financial Services is the owner and operator of the world’s leading payments and lifestyle platform Alipay. The parent company of Alipay was rebranded in 2014 to Ant Financial Services.
In 2018, it raised $14bn in a Series C round that reportedly gave it a valuation of $150bn.
However, the success has also caused more scrutiny from financial regulators and And Financial Services has come under pressure to reduce the size of its fund, which has ballooned to be worth more than $168bn thanks to the support of over 588 million investors.
By changing the emphasis from the financial aspect of the company and focusing more on the tech segment, Ant Technology Group ne Ant Financial Services is reportedly looking to get away from some of the pressure.
The news comes after it was revealed earlier this year that Ant Financial Services had taken a minority stake in Klarna, the Swedish buy now, pay later unicorn.
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