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Chinese billionaire will give up control of fintech giant , .

The move comes nearly two years after the Ant Group鈥檚 $34 billion-plus IPO was scuttled by increased regulatory overview of tech companies by the Chinese government.

Ant, an affiliate of , has informed Chinese regulators of Ma鈥檚 move, which was demanded by the government, according to the report.

Ant operates the world鈥檚 largest mobile payment app, 鈥攚hich has more than 1 billion users. In October 2020, Ant was set for what would have been the world’s largest IPO. However, Ma publicly criticized regulators in a speech which derailed the IPO and led to much more scrutiny on financial or operational dealings of tech companies by regulators that continues today.

Life without Ma

Ma鈥檚 ceding of power brings up important questions for the fintech giant moving forward.

In June, it was Beijing had given initial approval for Ant to move ahead with a potential redo of its IPO. However, Ma鈥檚 stepping away could push that back, as Chinese securities regulations require companies to wait three years after a change in control to publicly list, according to the report.

Ma鈥檚 move comes amid some signs that . In March, Liu He, China鈥檚 vice premier, pushed for more market-friendly policies to support the economy.

Just this month, regulators finally finished their year-long investigation into ride-hailing titan . That company went public on聽 the to much hoopla and fanfare鈥攔aising $4.4 billion. However, two days later regulators launched an investigation into the company, causing shares to plummet. Didi announced six months later it would delist.

What any easing of the regulatory crackdown could mean for Ant remains to be seen鈥攅specially after a leadership shakeup.

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