Ant Financial Services Group has been given the green light by Chinese regulators to change its name in a move that could help it avoid scrutiny from the country's financial watchdogs.
Alibaba Group affiliate Ant has been granted approval by China's top business and commerce regulator to change the Chinese translation of its name in is business registration records, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Ant Financial was created in 2014, when Alibaba folded six different businesses into a single unit as part of a concerted push into the financial services industry.
The firm now has a huge hold over the Chinese financial services market through businesses such as Alipay, Ant Fortune, Yu'e Bao, Zhao Cai Bao, Ant Micro Loan, Sesame Credit and MYbank.
By 2018 it had hit a $150 billion valuation on the back of a $14 billion Series C funding round.
However, the success has led to growing interest from China's financial services regulators. Recently it was pressed to shrink the size of a money market fund after it became the biggest in the world.
Meanwhile, Alipay has been affected by rules that mean it must keep most customer funds in accounts with commercial banks and clear transactions through a government run platform.