Jack Ma’s Alipay Reign Officially Over, IPO Back on Track

China’s central bank has agreed that payment app Alipay no longer has a controller after a sweeping business overhaul of Jack Ma’s Ant Group, the fintech giant that owns the app, putting its long-awaited IPO back on track.

The People’s Bank of China announced the decision concerning Alipay.com Co, one of Ant’s major entities in China, on its website on Saturday.

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In January, Ant Group said its founder Jack Ma would no longer control the fintech giant and would give up most of his voting rights.

Now, a year later, a group spokesperson has said the ‘corporate governance optimisation’ had been completed and it will not affect the company’s day-to-day business operations.

Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara

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Sean O'Meara

Sean O'Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.