endIndex:
(CNN) Jack Ma s Ant Group quickly became one of China s most powerful companies, and its plans for bridging the worlds of tech and finance were growing ever more ambitious by the day.
Now it appears to be turning into the kind of highly regulated Chinese bank that it hoped to supplant.
Months after the company s blockbuster initial public offering was shelved at the last minute a move that appears to have been sparked by Ma s criticism of Chinese regulators several media outlets have reported that Ant has agreed with authorities to become a financial holding company.
Ant declined to comment on those reports earlier this month, and the details of any potential agreement were not immediately clear. The company did not respond this week to additional questions about any deal with authorities.