China’s largest finance groups have had a difficult month. Lufax, China’s second-biggest online lender and an offshoot of insurer Ping An, listed in the US on October 30. Shortly afterwards, the listing plans of Ant, which is backed by Alibaba, were halted. Lufax made it on to the market, but that does not mean it escaped pain-free.
In the span of three weeks Lufax has gone from hot tip to short sellers’ target. Shares are down more than a quarter in the past week alone. Short positions have jumped more than sixfold since Ant’s listing was suspended.
The shorts have a point. US threats to delist Chinese companies that do not follow US auditing rules were already hanging over Lufax. Its struggles at home are more worrying. Chinese regulators are tightening controls on lending rates. They are also investigating Lufax’s micro loans platform, which is accused of violating rules including bundling in Ping An insurance products.