China is considering requiring Tencent Holdings Ltd to include WeChat Pay in a newly created financial holding company as part of an overhaul that may require a new license for the mobile payments service, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
Chinese regulators are now weighing whether WeChat Pay should be included in that holding company and operate separately from the main social media arm, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The news comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Tencent was facing a potential fine of at least hundreds of millions of yuan for violating some central bank regulations on its WeChat Pay mobile network.
Tencent did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Reuters had reported earlier this week citing sources that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent were preparing to cut tens of thousands of jobs combined this year in one of their biggest layoff rounds as the internet firms try to cope with China’s sweeping regulatory crackdown.
China recently launched a three-year campaign led by its central bank and Ministry of Public Security, to fight money laundering.
(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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