Chinese regulators on Thursday launched an investigation into Alibaba Group for suspected monopolistic behaviour.
Alibaba has been practising a controversial method called “choosing one from two” under which merchants are required to sign exclusive cooperation pacts preventing them from offering products on rival platforms. The regulators have been warning the e-Commerce giant over this practice.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) notified in an online statement that a probe has been launched into Alibaba's "choosing one from two" practice.
Financial regulators will also meet with Alibaba's Ant Group in the coming days, according to a separate online statement by the People's Bank of China on Thursday.
The meeting is to "guide Ant Group to implement financial supervision, fair competition and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers," the statement said.
Ant said it has received a notice from regulators, and that it will "seriously study and strictly comply with all regulatory requirements and commit full efforts to fulfil all related work."
