China’s Ant Cuts Credit Limits

China’s Ant Group is lowering credit limits for some young users of its Huabei virtual credit card product. It has been a month since China suspended the fintech giant’s $37 billion public listing plan.

Ant said they intend to reduce the credit limit to promote more “rational” spending habits in a text message.

Furthermore, the move comes as Chinese regulators tighten their hold on fintech firms. They worry that young and lower-income borrowers could get into debt trouble.

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), controls the Ant. It has two credit subsidiaries, Huabei, and short-term consumer loan provider Jiebei.

Additionally, Ant said in its IPO prospectus that around 500 million people used them in 12 months until June 30.

In November, regulators published a consultation paper on tightening rules for micro-lending. It would require them to fund at least 30% of any loan they make jointly with banks. 

Its IPO prospectus showed only 2% of the loans Ant had facilitated as of end-June were on its balance sheet.

Ant’s credit businesses had loan balances of 2.1 trillion yuan ($321.25 billion). Out of it was 1.7 trillion yuan consumer credit. That compares to 8.1 trillion yuan of short-term consumer loans issued by China’s banks.

Britain’s Fresh Food Supply at Risk

Supplies of some fresh food in Britain, mainly fruit and vegetables, are at risk of running out. This is until a backlog of trucks at the port of Dover is cleared. Also, until links with France return to normal. The UK retail industry stated this on Wednesday.

Furthermore, a partial blockade by France has left thousands of trucks stranded. This was to try to contain a new highly infectious coronavirus variant. That is in Dover, Britain’s main gateway to Europe, in the run-up to Christmas.