Chinese billionaire and Alibaba founder Jack Ma has reportedly ‘disappeared’ from the public eye for at least two months after he came in conflict with President Xi Jinping-led Central Communist Party government and this has led to speculations whether the business tycoon is missing or just avoiding the public.
Ma who is one of China’s wealthiest men, was scheduled to appear for the filming of his own talent show, Africa’s Business Heroes, however, he did not even turn up for it and was replaced by another Alibaba executive. Speaking to Financial Times, the Chinese e-commerce giant said that Ma couldn’t appear on the show due to a conflict in schedules.
According to a report in TechCrunch, the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, “summoned Ant Group for regulatory talks on December 26th, announcing a sweeping plan for the fintech firm to ‘rectify’ its regulatory violations”.
The banking authority laid out a five-point compliance agenda for Ant Group. The agenda is that Ant Group should return to its roots in payments and bring more transparency to transactions. Ant Group said it has established an internal “rectification workforce” to work on all the regulatory requirements.