Fintech

Becoming a bank would shrink but not squash Ant

11 January 2020

Regulators are set to treat Jack Ma’s financial group more like a regular Chinese lender. Though it has enough capital to support its online credit business, growth would be crushed. A bank-like valuation would imply it’s barely worth a tenth of its previous $300 bln price tag.

Jack Ma’s absence feeds into China Inc fears

5 January 2021

The Ant and Alibaba founder has not been seen in public for two months. Amid Beijing’s crackdown on both the fintech and e-commerce empires, keeping a low profile seems prudent. A history of Chinese tycoons mysteriously disappearing, though, is enough to warrant some concern.

Ant and Beijing begin delicate, dangerous dance

28 December 2020

Having forced the fintech giant to suspend its IPO, officials laid out demands that will curb growth. The orders are vague and allow for manoeuvre, but a forced break-up is possible. While the government needs Ant to support private firms, that’s scant comfort for investors.

Corona Capital: Tesla’s Apple snub

23 December 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Tesla boss Elon Musk asked to meet with Apple back in the day, and got rebuffed. Musk’s company has been the better investment recently, especially during the Covid-19 period. That doesn’t mean Tim Cook missed out.

Beijing attacks from rear in online grocery war

23 December 2020

Officials summoned Alibaba, Pinduoduo and other e-commerce giants to a disciplinary meeting on their Groupon-like supermarket operations. The $14 bln market is vibrant, but state media say dumping and supplier gouging is rife. Beijing’s assault on tech companies is widening.

Grab CEO will step into 2021’s tech limelight

21 December 2020

Anthony Tan has steered his $15 bln super-app through the pandemic. With growth in digital payments booming across Southeast Asia, Grab is now charging into wealth management and digital banking. A mooted merger with rival Gojek will only cement Tan’s rising star status.

Corona Capital: Filming drama, Spanish bank

16 December 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Actor Tom Cruise’s outburst about social distancing may not have been scripted, but it’s on point; Spanish bank Sabadell lines up a new leader.

Buy-now-pay-later exposes regulation blind spot

8 December 2020

Sweden’s Klarna and Australia’s Afterpay both allow punters to buy goods and defer payment. Opinion is divided over how regulators should treat any loss on the enabling financing. Balancing innovation and stability is hard, but the rules right now aren’t clear enough.

Blackstone’s SPAC foray puts price on convenience

7 December 2020

Payments company Paysafe is merging with a listed acquisition vehicle, while owners Blackstone and CVC halve their stake and extract $2.3 bln of cash. The cost to them is that they’ll leave roughly 15% on the table. Even so, it’s easy to see why SPACs tick private equity’s boxes.

Stripe lobs chum into Wall Street’s turbid waters

3 December 2020

Goldman Sachs, Citi and Barclays are all partnering with the online payment upstart to garner deposits and fees from merchants who use it. For Goldman this is a land grab; for others it’s defensive. An added attraction may be the potential to bring Stripe to market – or buy it.

Alibaba and Hong Kong celebrate happy anniversary

26 November 2020

Both have been rocked in various ways in the year since the Chinese tech titan completed its landmark $13 bln secondary listing. At the same time, more companies have followed suit and boosted the city’s trading volume. Benefits may keep accruing if indexes retrain their sights too.

Review: A premature declaration of fintech victory

20 November 2020

In “Banking on It” Anne Boden, founder of digital lender Starling, sketches a plausible theory of why her business model will triumph. Score-settling with arch-rival Monzo disrupts the story. And until Starling turns a meaningful profit, Boden’s argument lacks evidence.

Nexi bulks up for next round of payments M&A

16 November 2020

The Italian group’s 7.8 bln euro swoop on rival Nets, following its takeover of Sia, turns it from prey into predator. With a likely market value of around 22 bln euros, Nexi will compete with French rival Worldline for future deals. Bank-owned payment assets are the next target.

Weak bank CEO benches will be hard to strengthen

12 November 2020

Headhunter Heidrick & Struggles reckons top bankers lack experience in other sectors, like tech, and few have run full business units. The latter problem is solvable. But wooing digitally savvy talent from elsewhere is tricky given lenders’ miserable financial prospects.

Tencent’s super status can survive antitrust dig

12 November 2020

Dominance in gaming and messaging boosted quarterly sales 29%. Compared to e-commerce giant Alibaba, Tencent’s ubiquitous WeChat app depends less on subsidies and other practices singled out by regulators. The $681 bln tech giant benefits from boss Pony Ma’s low profile too.

India crudely tries to prevent payments dominance

11 November 2020

To ward off a China-style duopoly, caps are being imposed on Google, WhatsApp and others. It tilts the playing field in favour of local operators. Keeping a digital infrastructure designed as a public good from turning into an anticompetitive market is a tough balancing act.

Foxconn hitches bumpy ride with electric vehicles

9 November 2020

The $39 bln iPhone-assembler wants to supply parts for 10% of the world’s green cars by 2027. The stakes are high as the company weans itself from a dependency on Apple. Founder Terry Gou’s electronics expertise and deep pockets, though, puts it in a strong starting position.

Alibaba will feel the Ant sting

6 November 2020

The e-commerce giant’s close ties with the fintech company are now weighing on its $780 bln valuation. Ant’s yanked IPO and Beijing’s new credit rules come as growth at Alibaba’s core shopping business slows. Boss Daniel Zhang will have to start pulling harder on other levers.

Chinese regulators add Ant to cursed mega-IPOs

3 November 2020

The fintech group suspended its record-breaking $37 bln share sale after watchdogs met founder Jack Ma. Other big offerings like Saudi Aramco and Facebook also hit temporary snags. Whatever happens next, the delay reflects badly on Shanghai as a venue for corporate fundraising.

Beijing puts Ant on a shorter leash

3 November 2020

Days ahead of the company’s record-setting $34 bln IPO, founder Jack Ma was hauled in by regulators for a chat. Newly unveiled rules also would treat tech middlemen more like banks. It's the clearest sign yet that China wants to tame a wild market that’s helping fuel Ant mania.