HONG KONG, May 4 (Reuters) - Ant Group, an affiliate of

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ) plans to list

its overseas arm, Ant International, on the Hong Kong stock

exchange, Chinese media reported, citing unnamed sources.

Caixin, citing people close to the company, reported that

Ant was communicating with regulators about the potential

listing. The report did not say whether the discussions were

taking place with regulators in China or elsewhere.

Ant International is registered in Singapore.

Ant was founded by billionaire Jack Ma and is 33% controlled

by Alibaba ( BABA ). It operates China's ubiquitous mobile payments app

Alipay.

Chinese authorities pulled the plug on Ant's $37 billion IPO

in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2020 and cracked down on Ma's

business empire soon after his speech in Shanghai in October

that year accusing financial watchdogs of stifling innovation.

That subsequently led to a forced restructuring of Ant and a

nearly $1 billion fine by Chinese regulators. Ant is in the

process of securing a financial holding company licence, which,

once obtained, could facilitate the revival of its IPO goal.

(Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Toby Chopra)