Ant Group

 With the regulatory authorities remaking rules governing China's fintech sector, Ant Group's suspended stock listing may not be revived until 2022, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing unidentified regulatory officials familiar with the matter.

Saying that the chances of rekindling the fintech giant's IPO next year seem to be increasingly slim, the report disclosed that Ant remains in the early stages of reviewing regulatory changes and the suspended IPO may not be restarted until 2022.

Ant didn't respond to a request for comment as of press time.

The Alibaba fintech offshoot saw its mega dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong come to a halt on November 3 amid regulatory changes that aim to put fintech businesses on an equal footing with traditional financial institutions when it comes to capital requirements, among other rules.

With no IPO revival on the horizon, Alibaba's shares fell by 3.04 percent in Hong Kong on Monday, underperforming a 2.06 percent loss for the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

The e-commerce giant has been mostly silent on the IPO suspension and market speculation about a reshuffle at its fintech business or plans to re-float Ant.

One recent exception was Alibaba Chairman and CEO Zhang Yong's remarks at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang Province, earlier in November. 

"The authorities are seeking comments on draft rules for the platform economy, and we think this is very urgent and necessary," Zhang said, noting that development and regulatory governance are always mutually reinforcing.

Alibaba pledges to actively learn and respond to government policies and rules to build a healthier platform economy, the Alibaba chairman said. He didn't explicitly refer to the IPO suspension.

Global Times