Ant Group decided to increase its valuation by squeezing out commissions from banks

Jack Ma's fintech firm Ant Group, still looking to IPO, has decided to raise its valuation by increasing its share of transaction fees. Banks are forced to make concessions and lose part of their revenue.

Ant is demanding an increase in its share of the fees charged for the processing of transactions by its dominant Alipay system, to the detriment of banks, according to the Financial Times. Several bankers told the publication that they have agreed to increase Alipay's share of fees to 80% from 2021. “Ant is still looking forward to the IPO and wants to improve the market valuation, which has fallen due to the actions of the regulators,” says one of the interlocutors close to Ant.

The commission from the seller in China is divided between the fintech (Ant Group), the client's bank and the operator of the database of Unionpay cardholders. Since banks cannot afford to lose a partner like Ant, they are making concessions, the FT notes.

• It is possible that the "squeezing" of commissions will allow the group's main shareholder Jack Ma to increase its valuation after the Chinese authorities thwarted the record $37 billion IPO of Alibaba's subsidiary. Since then, the billionaire has temporarily not appeared in public, and the regulator began to tighten rules online -lending, which leaves a negative mark on fintech.

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Jack Ma has transformed Ant Group from an Alipay shell into the most valuable financial company in the world by sidestepping regulation and squeezing partners hard. How he succeeded and why at the last moment the state got in the way of the largest IPO in history, we told here .