China's Ant Group to close crowdfunded medical aid service (updated)

Waterdrop

28/12/2021 11:25

(Adds details, background)
    BEIJING, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Ant Group  688688.SS  announced
it will shut down its online crowdfunded medical aid service
Xianghubao on Jan. 28, a decision that comes at a time of
tightening of financial technology regulations in China.
    Ant, the fintech affiliate of retail giant Alibaba
 9988.HK , said on Tuesday that it had made the decision as "the
mutual aid industry has undergone significant changes" in the
past year, and that the move aimed to protect the interests of
users.
    Xianghubao provides users with a basic health plan covering
various types of critical illnesses. Signing up is free, but all
members share the medical costs of any becoming ill.
    Dubbed as "mutual aid", the industry has been under
regulatory scrutiny since last year as regulators tighten
financial business of online platforms.
    China's Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC)
has said since last year that all online financial activities
must be overseen and licensed by regulators. Mutual aid
platforms are not licensed by the CBIRC.
    One of the other leading players in the mutual aid industry,
Tencent-backed Waterdrop Inc  WDH.N , shut down its service in
March, while food delivery giant Meituan  3690.HK  closed its
service in January.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JQ0O6 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2LO2KN
    Ant said "Xianghubao" had served more than 100 million
members, and that 179,127 users who fell ill had received aid
from the platform since the service was launched in 2018.

 (Reporting by Cheng Leng and Ryan Woo; Editing by David Goodman
and Pravin Char)
 ((cheng.leng@thomsonreuters.com; +8610-5669-2129;))