The Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended first-day trading in Ant Group on the Shanghai stock exchange just before its scheduled listing Thursday.
Shortly after this, the Hong Kong stock exchange also said that the stock market debut of online finance giant Ant Group has been postponed. Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has also been summoned by Chinese regulators for a meeting on Monday.
“This material event may cause your company to fail to meet the issuance and listing conditions or information disclosure requirements,” the Shanghai stock market operator said in a statement issued to Ant Group.
Ant Group did not immediately comment.
Ant Group’s shares were due to begin trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai on Thursday, Nov. 5, after it was expected to raise at least $34.5 billion in what would have been the world’s biggest stock sale. Retail investors in Shanghai had placed bids for nearly $3 trillion worth of shares.
The company has come under increased scrutiny and tighter regulation as it has expanded the range of financial technology services it offers. Among the new regulations in recent months are caps on the use of asset-backed securities to fund consumer loans, new capital, and licensing requirements, and caps on lending rates.
On Monday, the central bank raised the registered capital requirement for lenders like Ant to a minimum of 5 billion yuan ($747 million).
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