DBS CEO welcomes crackdown on China’s fintech, says it will create fairer competition with banks

Banking and finances

DBS CEO Welcomes China’s Fintech Crackdown, Says It Will Create Fairer Competition With Banks

Bloomberg Published on Thursday, November 19, 2020 / 11:55 am GMT + 8 / Updated 12 hours ago

The chief executive of DBS Group Holdings Ltd. welcomes increased regulatory scrutiny of fintech companies in China and elsewhere in Asia, saying it will create fairer competition with banks that have been subject to more stringent supervision. . “Over time, it will begin to have a more level playing field and it will begin to get a commensurate and even regulatory response from all market participants,” CEO Piyush Gupta said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. Gupta spoke after being asked for his opinion on the suspension of Ant Group Co.’s initial public offering in China as regulators seek to level the competition between fintech giants and traditional banks. “Our view has been in the past that many technology companies have been able to benefit from arbitration by not having the same regulatory regime and supervisory overhead that banks have,” Gupta said. “And so as we get to that stage, that’s really helpful to us.” Although he declined to comment on his plan to merge the bank’s India unit with Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd. due to pending regulatory approval, Gupta said such a deal will not affect DBS’s dividend payments. China, India and Indonesia are key regional markets in which the bank is expanding, he said.