If you don’t understand what’s going on in China, you’re not alone. Even though the country is constantly in the headlines and will soon overtake the US as the world’s largest economy, China is a black box. Its economy is difficult to assess amid murky politics, unreliable data (according to Bloomberg, to this day, many Chinese people believe that Mao Zedong didn’t know millions of people were starving in the Great Leap Forward) and opaque decision-making while lawmakers and policy makers continue to introduce new rules and regulations at the drop of a hat.
As China is entirely impossible to predict, the region is uninvestable for most investors. And unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if it’s going to become easier to trust the country anytime soon.
President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-graft campaign, which has spread to the financial sector in the past year, has lead to a comprehensive round-up of executives at some of China’s largest banks, brokers, and hedge funds.
- China Stares Down Soros, Issues Warning To Man Who “Broke The Bank of England”
- China’s Statistics Chief Under Investigation
- China’s “Startling Acceleration In Capital Outflows” Could Already Top $1 Trillion
This round-up in itself is not that concerning. Many US investors would have support a similar round-up after the financial crisis. However, what’s really astonishing is the length of list of China’s top bankers and fund managers who have been detained, disappeared, or died of unnatural causes in the past year.
Quartz has put together a summary of those members of China’s financial elite that have become the subject of an investigation during the past year and their fate.
China: The Most Dangerous Place To Work In Finance
1. Yang Zezhu
Former chairman of Changjiang Securities who resigned on 6th of January after being put under investigation for possible corruption. Fell to his death on January 27th leaving behind a suicide note.
2. Mao Xiaofeng
Mao Xiaofeng was the youngest president of a listed Chinese bank, Minsheng, the world’s 49th largest bank. He was arrested by Communist Party’s anti-graft agency in January 2015.
3. Lei Jie
Lei Jie, the chairman of Founder Securities, went missing in January 2015 but was released from police custody a few months ago.
4. Wang Yaoting
Wang Yaoting, the vice president of Hua Xia Bank, was was taken away in May 2015 for a corruption investigation. He appeared in court in December and charged with $164,000 in bribe-taking.
5. Li Yifei
Li Yifei, country chairwoman of Man Group’s China unit, was reported to have been taken away by mainland authorities to assist with an investigation at the end of August but reappeared a week later declaring that she’d taken an unscheduled holiday.
6. Cheng Boming
Cheng Boming was Citic Securities (China’s biggest broker) president. He was probed by police for suspected insider trading in September 2015 along with eight other senior executives.
7. Zhao Dajian
Zhao Dajian, honorary chairman or Minzu Securities and director of Founder Securities has been missing since September 22, 2015.
8. Chen Hongqiao
Chen Hongqiao was the president of China’s fifth biggest broker Guosen Securities. Chen hanged himself in his Shenzhen home in October of 2015.
9. Xu Xiang
Xu Xiang was the general manager of Zexi Investment. Nicknamed “hedge fund brother No. 1,” Xu was detained by police during November of last year.
10. Yim Fung
The chairman of Guotai Junan Securities, one of China’s largest brokers disappeared on November 18 and then reappeared in late December after reportedly “assisting in certain investigations.”
11. Zhang Yun
President of China and the world’s third largest bank, Agricultural Bank of China resigned from all his posts in December after he was taken away by authorities.
12. Guo Guangzhang
Nicknamed (by himself) “China’s Warren Buffet,” Guo, the chairman of conglomerate Fosun disappeared for four days last December. It’s still unclear why he vanished.
The post China: The Most Dangerous Place To Work In Finance appeared first on ValueWalk.