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China's Embattled Anbang Sells Stakes In Major Lenders - Report
The financial group, beset by a regulatory clampdown and the disappearance of its chairman, has sold stakes in China's "Big four" banks.
Chinese conglomerate Anbang Insurance Group has reportedly offloaded stakes worth up to a total of $1 billion in the country’s largest banks: Industrial Bank of China; China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of China.
A sharp fall in revenues from premiums has triggered the move, according to a report by the Financial Times. At the end of June this year, the group held no stakes in three of the banks and only 0.12 per cent of Bank of China.
The retreat contrasts with examples of certain Chinese
conglomerates, such as Fosun International and Legend (parent of
PC firm Lenovo) buying Western financial groups, including
private banks.
Recent months have been difficult for Anbang, which owns the
Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, has
disappeared, possibly in government custody, the FT
said.
Problems mounted when, in May this year, China’s insurance regulator banned Anbang’s life insurance unit from selling policies for three months and accused it of “wreaking havoc” on the market with aggressive pricing.
