Ant Group is reportedly in discussions with state-owned enterprises to create a credit scoring firm that houses data collected from its massive user base.
The formation of the new entity could see Ant Group cede control over financial data of more than a billion users, according to a report citing unnamed users.
Ant Group’s data sharing process with Beijing has been ongoing with reports earlier this year that the People’s Bank of China was unhappy with the progress.
According to the report, considerations are being made to form a joint venture co-owned by Ant and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – including an unnamed Shanghai-based financial conglomerate.
The talks also covered the types of data collected, alignment between the credit scoring system and broader state plans as well as whether the joint venture should be controlled by Ant or SOEs.
The entry could be established as soon as the third quarter this year though discussions are ongoing and no final decisions have been made.