BEIJING, Oct.18 -- The head of China's oldest fund firm has been detained and removed from his post for financial misconduct under a state probe into the misuse of Shanghai's welfare pension, a company statement and sources said Tuesday.
Han Fanghe, chief executive of Hua An Fund Management Co, "was cooperating with authorities for an investigation into his violations of disciplinary rules," the Shanghai fund venture said in a statement.
"Han's problems are not related to any fund in our company and his work has been taken over by deputy general manager Shao Jiejun," the statement said. "Our daily operations are normal."
Hua An did not give a reason for Han's detention but sources said central government officials took him away for questioning over the weekend in connection to probes over the city's pension fund.
The pension-fund investigation has implicated several senior government officials and corporate executives in the city, with former local Communist Party secretary Chen Liangyu dismissed last month.
The 10-billion-yuan (1.27 billion U.S. dollars) Shanghai pension fund, mainly corporate annuities, has been managed via irregular loans without proper collaterals and through long-term investments such as real estate with liquidity risks.
Hua An, set up in 1998, has nearly 40 billion yuan in assets under management, which accounts for more than seven percent of China's fund market. It launched the country's first open-end fund, first index-based fund and first money-market fund.
The company in August also became the first Chinese fund manager to invest clients' assets in overseas financial and capital markets, partnering with Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers.
Before joining Hua An, Han worked at Shanghai International Trust & Investment Co, an investment vehicle of the city government, which owns 20 percent of the fund firm.
Hua An's other big shareholders include an arm under troubled Fuxi Investment Holding Co and Hong Kong-listed Shanghai Electric Group.
(Source: Shanghai Daily)
