China's biggest third-party payment providers, Alipay and WeChat Pay, could face antitrust investigations and forced divestiture under proposed rules that tighten oversight of nonbank institutions in the sector.
The government and regulators will gain new powers to fight monopolies and abuse of market power by dominant players if draft rules published on Wednesday by the People's Bank of China governing nonbank payment providers are approved. The draft is open for public feedback until Feb. 19.