BRIEF: Ant Group names Alibaba veteran as new CFO

Liu Zheng, the former financial chief of Alibaba’s (BABA.US; 9988.HK) Cainiao logistics unit, has been named as the new CFO of Ant Group, financial media Caixin reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. With the move, Liu will take over the financial responsibilities formerly handled by Ant’s President Han Xinyi, Caixin said.

The move is part of a shuffle announced earlier this month that will see Han become Ant’s CEO in March next year, taking over from Eric Jing, who will remain as Ant’s chairman.

The management reorganization comes after Ant, whose leading asset is its Alipay payments service, was fined 7.1 billion yuan ($973 million) last July, ending a yearslong government-led restructuring of the company. As part of that restructuring, the company’s lucrative consumer lending arm was decoupled from its payments services.

Ant, which is 33% owned by Alibaba, was preparing for a $34.5 billion IPO in late 2020, before the deal was abruptly suspended due to concerns by Chinese regulators. Speculation has been rife since then on if and when the company might relaunch its IPO, though Ant has yet to confirm any plan or give a timeline.

By Doug Young

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