Chair of China’s Biggest Asset Management Company Placed Under Investigation

1170

Lai Xiaomin (赖小民), the chair of China Huarong Asset Management, has been placed under disciplinary investigation and monitoring by the Chinese authorities for suspected breach of laws and disciplinary requirements.

Lai is both chair and party secretary for China Huarong,  China’s largest financial asset management company in terms of total assets, which stood at 866.5 billion yuan as of the end of 2015.

China Huarong is one of four asset management companies launched by the Chinese government in 1999 in order to handle the distressed debt accumulated in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis.

In addition to heading China Huarong, Lai has also been a member of the National People’s Congress since September 2012.

He is a veteran of the Chinese financial regulatory system, having first joined the People’s Bank of China in July 1983 as a junior official.

Lai served in a succession of positions with the central bank before becoming head and party secretary of the Beijing banking regulatory commission, and then chief media spokesperson for the China Banking Regulatory Commission.