China plans online payment rules that may hit Ant Group, Tencent

The rules present the strongest and most detailed message yet of regulators' plans to curb monopolistic practices in the online payments industry

China proposed measures to curb market concentration in its online payment market, potentially dealing another blow to financial technology giant Ant Group and its biggest rival Tencent Holdings.

The central bank said on Wednesday that any non-bank payment firm with half of the market in online transactions or two entities with a combined two-thirds share could be subject to anti-trust probes, according to draft rules released by the People’s Bank of China.

If a monopoly is confirmed, the central bank can suggest the cabinet impose restrictive measures including breaking up the entity by its business type. Firms already