What’s new: Zhuang Enyue, a former vice president of China Cinda Asset Management Co. Ltd., the national bad debt manager, has come under investigation, as an anti-graft crackdown on the finance industry intensifies ensnaring several top executives at some of the country’s largest bad banks.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection didn’t elaborate on the reason for the probe into Zhuang, saying he is “personally suspected of serious disciplinary and legal violations,” a phrase that often refers to corruption.
The investigation comes after the retirement of 61-year-old Zhuang. He joined China Cinda in 2003 and became the company’s vice president. Before that Zhuang had spent 11 years in the National Bureau of Statistics and had a short stint in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank by asset.
Background: China’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign has brought down several top executives at the country’s four biggest state-owned bad asset management companies.
In the most high-profile case, former chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co. Ltd. Lai Xiaomin was sentenced to death for taking a record 1.79 billion yuan ($277 million) of bribes. Lai was executed in early 2021.
In August 2023, Sang Ziguo, the former assistant to the president of China Great Wall Asset Management Corp., received a life sentence for accepting 105 million yuan in bribes. The year before, Hu Xiaogang, the former vice president of China Orient Asset Management Co. Ltd., was expelled from the Communist Party on corruption allegations. Hu is awaiting prosecution on criminal charges.
China’s big four asset management companies were created in 1999 to take over nonperforming assets of the country’s biggest state-owned banks. Over the years, they have expanded businesses into various areas including securities trading, trusts and other investments, deviating from their original mandate of disposing of bad debt.
The downfall of Huarong’s Lai triggered closer scrutiny of the companies’ operations and has led to business and management reshuffles at the companies.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)
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