Is South-east Asia ready for the Chinese Big Tech wave?

Tech titans like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are keen to expand financial services to the region. The question is: Can its regulators cope with the complex risks they present?

Baidu’s Beijing headquarters. Tech titans from China are reportedly entering Singapore in droves, aiming to use it as a hub or beachhead to expand in the region. PHOTO: REUTERS
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Much attention has been paid to China's massive crackdown on its tech titans, particularly those providing financial services.

The quashing of Ant Group's mega initial public offering in November last year was only the beginning. Since then, China's regulators have required, among other things, that the financial services divisions of Big Techs be restructured and subjected to much more supervision than in the past.

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