China’s 'Big Four' banks, which include ICBC, have long been criticised for high charges, poor service and their reluctance to lend to private companies
A Chinese brokerage has fined its chairman two months pay — nearly one million yuan ($161,000) — after he publicly blasted the country’s largest lender Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) over its profits.
The penalty will be levied on Citic Securities’ Wang Dongming, the 21st Century Business Herald newspaper said, basing its estimate on Wang’s 2013 salary of 5.83 million yuan.
China’s 'Big Four' banks, which include ICBC, have long been criticised for high charges, poor service and their reluctance to lend to private companies.
Speaking at a forum in Beijing Saturday, Wang referred to a conversation he had with Yang Kaisheng, former president of the ICBC. “I told ICBC’s governor Yang the other day that if ICBC reports between 200 billion yuan and 300 billion yuan of annual post-tax profits, you’ll be condemned by people across the country. How can a services institution make so much money and to whom did the money go?” he said, according to a transcript posted online.
ICBC in March reported a net profit of 262.97 billion yuan for 2013.
The penalty was revealed in an internal memo by Citic Securities, China’s largest brokerage by market value, which said state media had misinterpreted Wang’s remarks, souring the firm’s relationship with ICBC and hurting the giant bank’s image.
“The disclosure of this incident is a warning that everyone should exercise caution when making comments publicly and do no harm to the interests and feelings of our clients,” Citic Securities said in the memo, which was quoted by state media.
Wang’s remarks allegedly prompted ICBC to drop the brokerage as its underwriter for a planned sale of preferred shares, according to reports.
Inside story of the National Stock Exchange’s amazing success, leading to hubris, regulatory capture and algo scam
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
1-year online access to the magazine articles published during the subscription period.
Access is given for all articles published during the week (starting Monday) your subscription starts. For example, if you subscribe on Wednesday, you will have access to articles uploaded from Monday of that week.
This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
Articles outside the subscription period can be bought separately for a small price per article.
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
30-day online access to the magazine articles published during the subscription period.
Access is given for all articles published during the week (starting Monday) your subscription starts. For example, if you subscribe on Wednesday, you will have access to articles uploaded from Monday of that week.
This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
Articles outside the subscription period can be bought separately for a small price per article.
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
Complete access to Moneylife archives since inception ( till the date of your subscription )
