Tencent, ByteDance and others ordered by China to curb financial busineses

Hong Kong CNN Business — Chinese regulators have ordered more than a dozen tech companies to fix the most “prominent problems” of their financial units, escalating a historic crackdown on the sector that has already engulfed some of the country’s top players. In a statement Thursday, the People’s Bank of China said that it had summoned 13 companies, including Tencent, JD.com, ByteDance, Meituan and Didi Chuxing, for talks that were also attended by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The regulators laid out seven demands, starting with the requirement that “all financial activities be included in financial supervision, and financial businesses must be licensed to operate.” The way tech firms run their financial units should become more “standardized,” the central bank added, and should in some cases require them to apply to set up financial holding companies. In its statement, the People’s Bank of China said that companies should also “disconnect improper links between payment services and other financial products, strictly control the expansion of non-bank payment accounts to the public domain, improve transaction transparency, and correct unfair competition.” Tencent declined to comment on the meeting, while JD.com, Didi and Meituan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.