Ant was heading for a record-breaking $37 billion IPO before its dreams were dashed by Chinese regulators, and experts say it may no longer be the hailed fintech disruptor the banking sector expected

Ant was heading for a record-breaking $37 billion IPO before its dreams were dashed by Chinese regulators, and experts say it may no longer be the hailed fintech disruptor the banking sector expected

Alibaba founder Jack Ma in January 2018.







Wang HE/Getty Images













The Chinese fintech company Ant Group was ready to shatter records with a $37 billion IPO on November 5, with a reported estimated valuation close to $300 billion.

The IPO was touted as the largest in history “” projected to sweep past the world's biggest banks “” and it positioned Ant as a fintech disruptor in the "stodgy" banking sector. 

But a week after founder Jack Ma made incendiary comments publicly snubbing China's regulatory banking rules, the eastern nation introduced a series of new regulations that clamped down on Ant's lending business, and its IPO was suspended.

Experts told Business Insider that if Ant