Beijing (PingWest)—Simon Hu has resigned as chief executive officer of Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The departure of Hu comes at a time when the fintech company is revamping its entire business, following the abrupt cancellation of its blockbuster IPO last November amid a crackdown by Chinese regulators.

"The Ant Group Board of Directors has accepted Mr. Simon Hu's resignation request, due to personal reasons," said a spokesperson for the affiliate.

"We are thankful to Simon for the efforts he made at our company," the spokesperson added.

Chairman Eric Jing has been named Ant Group's new CEO, according to the company's website. Jing had previously served the company in that position from 2016 to 2019.

Hu joined Alibaba Group in 2005 and served as president of Ant Group since November 2018. Before that, he held positions in Alibaba’s cloud computing and SME loan divisions. Before joining Alipay China in 2006, he worked at China Construction Bank Corporation and China Everbright Bank. 

Hu will now devote his efforts to philanthropic work, and will be fully responsible for philanthropy and social responsibility at both Ant Group and Alibaba, according to a person familiar with an internal email that Jing sent to employees on Friday.