China's Ant Group sidelines banks in distribution of funds targeting its IPO

China's Ant Group sidelines banks in distribution of funds targeting its IPO

A Chinese customer uses Alipay to make a purchases at a store in Singapore. Alipay operator Ant Group has big plans for Southeast Asia. © AP

As five Chinese mutual funds targeting Ant Group’s hotly-anticipated IPO kicked off subscriptions on Friday, retail investors found the only non-direct channel through which to buy the products was online payment platform Alipay.