Alibaba assisting US probe: Jack Ma

Ma, founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant, also said that It will help Alibaba as a company and give it more exposure

Alibaba is "actively assisting" an investigation into its accounting by the US market regulator, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Jack Ma has said.

Ma also welcomed the investigation which was seen as a political setback for the well-known Chinese firm that raised the world's largest initial public offering of $25 billion two years ago.

Alibaba is actively assisting an investigation launched by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and has provided all the requested information relating to its accounting practices, he said.

"It will help Alibaba as a company and give it more exposure," Ma told China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

"Alibaba has no similar counterpart in the US and some American investors struggle to understand Alibaba's business model," he said.

"The best way to settle questioning is transparency and communication," he said.

Many companies have been investigated by the SEC and the process separates the wheat from the chaff, he said.

The SEC early this year started probing Alibaba's accounting practices, including consolidation policies and transaction data, for potential violations of federal securities laws.

The SEC, however, indicated that the enquiry did not imply any wrongdoing.