China’s Ant Group to close world’s largest mutual aid platform next month amid regulatory scrutiny
- Since its launch in 2018, Xianghubao accumulated more than 100 million registered users, making it the world’s largest mutual aid platform
- Search engine Baidu closed its mutual insurance platform in August 2020 after signing up only 500,000 members in the first year
Ant Group, the fintech company affiliated with e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, said it will close its Xianghubao mutual aid platform next month, amid Beijing’s ongoing regulatory crackdown on financial services in the technology sector.
Xianghubao – which means “protect each other” in Chinese – will cease on January 28 next year, according to an Ant Group notice sent to users on Tuesday.
The closure of the mutual aid service is the latest sign of the shake-out in China’s fintech industry, as regulators move to ring-fence technology’s reach and influence into the financial services sector, amid concerns of potential risks to the underlying banking system.
Since its launch in 2018, Xianghubao accumulated more than 100 million registered users, making it the world’s largest mutual aid platform, providing aid to about 180,000 sick people over the past three years.
It is the latest example of a service being trimmed by the once-sprawling business landscape of Ant Group, which is affiliated with South China Morning Post parent company Alibaba.
The fintech giant has been restructuring its operations under regulatory oversight since its mega IPO was called off at the last minute in November 2020. Its consumer credit and microloan services - named Huabei and Jiebei, respectively - were subsequently told to merge into a Chongqing government consumer credit vehicle, with Ant given 50 per cent ownership.
