china punishes icbc staff for flouting austerity regime - ft
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12/9/2015 China punishes ICBC staff for flouting austerity regime FT.com
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December 8, 2015 10:36 am
Gabriel Wildau in Shanghai
China’s graft watchdog has reprimanded 137 staff atthe country’s top bank for hosting extravagant dinnersand entertainment and forcing subordinates to givegifts.
The action by the Central Commission on DisciplineInspection was taken after the focus of the publicausterity campaign was switched to the financial
sector.
From late October, the Communist party body said it would inspect institutions includingIndustrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest lender by assets, AgriculturalBank of China, China Development Bank, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the People’s Bankof China.
China punishes ICBC staff for flouting austerityregime
©AFP
12/9/2015 China punishes ICBC staff for flouting austerity regime FT.com
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Previous probes have targeted stateowned groups including China Mobile, the telecomsbusiness, China National Petroleum Corp, Baosteel and State Grid, the power distributor.
Party leaders approved the “Eight Regulations of Austerity” in December 2012, one of the firstinitiatives in Xi Jinping’s anticorruption campaign. While much of the drive has focused onlargescale bribery and abuse of power, the rules focused on more quotidian forms ofcorruption: banquets at public expense, unnecessary travel and meetings and unauthorised useof government cars.
A particular target was the habit of senior officials and stateowned enterprise executives of inviting subordinates to weddings, funerals and other functions
12/9/2015 China punishes ICBC staff for flouting austerity regime FT.com
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where they would be expected to give red envelopes of cash or other gifts. Though ostensibly aninvitation, attendance is understood to be mandatory.
At ICBC, the investigators discovered 25 violations that led to disciplinary action against 37individuals and warnings to an additional 10. The 18 disciplinary violations that were foundresulted in 90 punishments, including 15 firings and expulsions from the party.
Last week the Xinhua news agency reported that almost 139,000 people had been punishednationwide for violating the rules since their inception. Unauthorised use of vehicles was themost common offence, with forcing subordinates to attend parties ranking second.
The agency is looking into ICBC and other stateowned banks in parallel with police andregulatory inquiries into brokerages and fund managers in the wake of China’s summer stockmarket rout.
Police have detained senior executives at Citic Securities, the country's largest brokerage, onsuspicion of insider trading. The securities regulator is investigating Citic, Haitong Securities,the secondlargest brokerage, and Guosen Securities for violating rules on margin lending.
The president of AgBank’s, China’s thirdlargest lender, was detained in early November andresigned this week. Xu Xiang, China’s richest hedge fund manager, was arrested on suspicionof insider trading last month.
Additional reporting by Ma Nan
Twitter: @gabewildau
12/9/2015 China punishes ICBC staff for flouting austerity regime FT.com
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a2a61eb89d8d11e5bfeda24713ecdd4f.html#axzz3tnfSASHJ 4/4
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