China Construction Bank Told to Beef Up Management
China's banking watchdog ordered China Construction Bank to beef up its controls against fraud and other abuses following the abrupt departure of its chairman, as the regulator reported a lending scandal at another major bank, state media reported Friday.
"Construction Bank will follow the instructions of the China Banking Regulatory Commission [and] continue to fight against illegal behavior by strengthening management," the official Xinhua News Agency cited an unnamed spokesman for the bank as saying. "Internal controls will be beefed up at a small number of branches with frequent fraud cases," it said.
The bank's spokesman could not be reached for comment Friday.
Separately, the banking regulator said Thursday that 43 managers and other staff of the Agricultural Bank of China -- another big state-run commercial bank -- were implicated in illegal lending, embezzlement and other misconduct involving 115 million yuan ($14 million). Agricultural Bank is in Baotou, a city in the northern province of Inner Mongolia. The discovery came during an inspection, the commission said in a statement posted on its Web site. Check-cashing and some other services at the branches involved were suspended.
China's state-owned banks have repeatedly been caught up in scandals resulting in huge losses. The disclosure of troubles at Agricultural Bank of China was the fourth such affair so far this year, the National Business Daily reported.
The banking watchdog announced earlier this week plans for a wide-ranging investigation into major loans in its latest attempt to clean up the industry.
Last week, Zhang Enzhao, the chairman of China Construction Bank , stepped down amid unconfirmed reports he is under investigation for allegedly taking bribes. On Friday, the bank's board of directors appointed Guo Shuqing, the former head of the State Administration for Foreign Exchange, as Mr. Zhang's replacement, Xinhua reported. Mr. Guo was named the bank's communist party secretary, the top boss, a week earlier.
"The shareholders and board of directors believe that Guo, as the chairman of China Construction Bank 's board of directors, will play an important role in the development of the bank's reform and the internationalization process of the bank," the bank said Friday.
The financial magazine Caijing reported in its March 21 edition that the former chairman, Mr. Zhang, is accused of taking bribes in a lawsuit filed in California, but the bank has only said he quit for "personal reasons." A deputy chief of a Construction Bank branch in northeast China's Jilin Province was sentenced to life imprisonment last month in a fraud case dating back to 1999 that involved up to 328 million yuan, the Xinhua report said.
Repeated disclosures of mismanagement and other abuses by top banking officials appear not to have disrupted plans for the banks to restructure and sell shares overseas. Construction Bank, the country's third-biggest lender, is expected to raise $5 billion to $10 billion by listing shares in Hong Kong later this year.
Also on Friday, China Minsheng Banking Corp. announced that the China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved a plan for it to issue 1.34 billion new shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Beijing-based bank, the country's first to be launched with private shareholders, is generally considered among China's strongest lenders. It hopes to raise as much as $1 billion with the listing.
中国建设银行被要求加强管理
中国国有媒体报导，在中国建设银行(China Construction Bank)董事长突然离职后，中国银行业监管机构命令该行加强对欺诈以及其它违规行为的监控。与此同时，监管机构披露了另外一家大型银行的借贷丑闻。
“建行将遵守中国银行业监督管理委员会（简称：银监会）的规定，继续通过加强管理打击非法行为，”官方新华社(Xinhua News Agency)引述建行发言人的话称。“将对屡屡发生欺诈案件的分行加强内部控制。”
记者周五未能联系到该行发言人对此发表评论。
另外，银监会周四称，中国农业银行(Agricultural Bank of China)的43名经理及一些员工参与非法借贷、挪用公款等违规行为，涉案总额高达人民币1.15亿元（1,400万美元）。银监会网站上刊载的一份声明称，这些案件是在对中国农业银行包头分行的下属支行进行检查时发现的。这些支行的支票兑现等服务已经暂停。
中国国有银行不断曝出损失数额巨大的丑闻。据《每日经济新闻》报导，中国农业银行披露的问题已是年内第四起此类事件。
银监会上周初宣布了对高额贷款进行大范围调查的计划，这是其整顿银行业的最新举措。
前一周，中国建设银行董事长张恩照(Zhang Enzhao)辞职。据未证实的报导称，他因接受贿赂而受到调查。新华社报导，建行董事会上周五任命前国家外汇管理局(State Administration for Foreign Exchange)局长郭树清接替张恩照。在一周前，郭树清被任命为建行党委书记。另外，国家外汇管理局已于本周一宣布，中国央行(People's Bank of China)行长助理胡晓炼已被任命为国家外汇管理局局长。
“股东和董事会相信，郭树清作为中国建设银行的董事长将在该行的改革和国际化进程中发挥重要作用，”建行上周五称。
中国的《财经》杂志在3月21日一期中报导，建行前董事长张恩照在加利福尼亚被提起受贿指控，但是该行只表示张恩照因“个人原因”离职。新华社报导，中国建设银行吉林支行一位副行长因1999年一起涉案价值为人民币3.28亿元的欺诈案件上月被判无期徒刑。
高级银行官员不断被揭露出来的管理不善以及其他违规行为似乎并没有打断这些银行重组以及在海外上市的计划。身为中国第三大银行的建行预计今年下半年在香港上市，筹资额为50亿－100亿美元。
还是在上周五，中国民生银行(China Minsheng Banking Corp.)宣布，中国证监会(China Securities Regulatory Commission)批准了其在香港交易所(Hong Kong Stock Exchange)发行13.4亿股新股的计划。这家总部位于北京、中国首家由私人股东组建的银行被普遍看作是中国实力最强的银行之一。该行希望通过此次上市最多筹集10亿美元资金。
