Missing China bank boss is the wrong big deal

China Renaissance Holdings

17/02/2023 03:18

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Yawen Chen and Una Galani
       HONG KONG, Feb 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Bao Fan's
disappearance wiped 30% off China Renaissance’s stock. But his
boutique investment bank had already shrunk as work from clients
like Didi vanished. The broader blow is to financiers waiting
for new business to offset Beijing’s common-prosperity and
anti-corruption push.
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    CONTEXT NEWS
    Shares of China Renaissance plunged nearly 30% on Feb. 17
after the boutique investment bank said in a filing with the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it has been unable to contact its
founder, chairman and chief executive, Bao Fan. 
    The bank, valued at over $700 million before its stock
crashed, said it was not aware of any information that his
disappearance is or might be related to the company, which, the
filing noted, continues to operate normally. 
    Caixin, a local business news publication, reported on Feb.
16 that Bao had been unreachable for at least two days. It also
noted that in September Chinese authorities took Cong Lin, the
bank’s president and chairman of its Hong Kong securities unit,
into custody. 
    The investigation of Cong “was said to be” related to his
work at ICBC Financial Leasing Co, the financial leasing unit of
state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Caixin
added.
 (Column by Yawen Chen in Hong Kong and Una Galani in Mumbai.
Editing by Antony Currie and Thomas Shum)
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