Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
A senior Nomura banker has been allowed to leave mainland China after being banned last year from exiting the country amid an investigation into the tech dealmaker Bao Fan.
Charles Wang Zhonghe, chair of investment banking for China at Nomura International, had arrived back in Hong Kong where he was previously based, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
One of the people, a banker who met Wang recently, said he was now spending time back in the territory and added: “I think he is doing pretty good.” It is not clear exactly when the ban was lifted, but two of the people said it was within the past few months. The FT first reported his ban in September.
The imposition of an exit ban on a figure as senior as Wang sent a chill through the financial community in Hong Kong last year, at a time when confidence in China’s business environment was already low. Banks and other multinational businesses rely on their executives being able to move in and out of the mainland.
Wang did not immediately respond to a message on LinkedIn seeking comment. Nomura declined to comment. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately comment.
The US state department advises people to reconsider travelling to China “due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans”.
The FT reported in September that Wang had been banned from leaving the mainland after arriving there for a visit. He was allowed to travel within mainland China while the exit ban was in place and was not held in detention.
In a September 13 social media post by Wang seen by the FT, the banker said he was on a trip to China’s western Qinghai province.
News of the exit ban on Wang came several months after Bao, the founder of investment group China Renaissance and a former Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse banker, went missing in February 2023. China Renaissance said later that month that Bao was “co-operating in an investigation” with Chinese authorities.
Two people familiar with the matter said last year that Wang’s exit ban was in relation to his time at the state bank ICBC, where he worked at the same time as Cong Lin, a former senior executive at China Renaissance. In 2022 China’s securities regulator called in Cong for a “supervisory discussion” and he was later reportedly detained.
Bao and Cong could not be reached for comment.
Wang joined Nomura in 2018, having previously worked at ICBC International and Deutsche Bank, according to his LinkedIn page. He moved to Hong Kong in 1996 after working on Wall Street.
China has a history of unexplained detentions of senior business people and officials.
Read the full article here
