Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) faces a record fine after China’s central bank discovered its WeChat Pay (微信支付) had contravened money laundering rules, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The People’s Bank of China found Tencent’s payments platform had allowed the transfer of funds for illicit purposes such as gambling, the newspaper reported.
WeChat Pay was also judged non-compliant with other rules that required Tencent to identify users and merchants transacting on the platform, the Journal said.
Photo: Reuters
A probe into potential money laundering would open a new front in Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on the Internet industry, an effort that has already wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars in arenas from ride-hailing and e-commerce to online education.
Tencent itself has thus far mostly escaped formal regulatory action. Unlike rivals Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) and Meituan (美團), the WeChat operator has not yet been the direct target of any government probe.
A Tencent spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tencent’s investment arm could be affected as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) administration grows wary of what it deems a “disorderly expansion of capital,” while WeChat has drawn scrutiny from regulators for building an enclosed Internet ecosystem that spans everything from e-commerce to short videos and online payments.
Last year, the country’s technology overseer told Internet firms to stop blocking rival services, prompting WeChat to start allowing external links to apps run by companies such as Alibaba and ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動).
Under recently established regulations, Tencent is required to restructure its fintech business under a financial holdings company much like Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s (馬雲) Ant Group Co (螞蟻集團).
However, the connection between WeChat Pay and the rest of Tencent’s finance division could make the separation — which executives have said would have a minimal effect on operations — more complicated.
Separately, Hong Kong stocks yesterday fell more than 5 percent, as technology firms were hit by concerns over China’s crackdown on the sector and as the country’s tech hub Shenzhen was put into lockdown.
The Hang Seng Index sank 4.97 percent, or 1,022.13 points, to 19,531.66, dropping below 20,000 points for the first time since mid-2016.
The Hang Seng Tech Index shed 11.03 percent, with market heavyweight Alibaba down 10.9 percent and Tencent 9.79 percent.
Additional reporting by AFP and staff writer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS