Head of Hong Kong-based brokerage Guotai Junan International ‘missing’ in case linked to probe of CSRC vice-chairman

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Shares hammered, closing down more than 12 per cent, after company says it has been unable to contact chairman since Wednesday

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Yim Fung, the chief executive Guotai Junan International, has gone missing, the company said in a filing to Hong Kong’s stock exchange. Photo: Felix Wong

Jing Yang,Daniel Renin ShanghaiandBenjamin Robertson

Published: 9:30am, 23 Nov 2015Updated: 3:13pm, 10 Jul 2019

The crackdown in the mainland’s financial sector is intensifying, with Guotai Junan Securities reporting the head of its overseas subsidiary has gone missing.

Sources said they believed the case was related to an earlier probe of a high-ranking official at the mainland’s securities watchdog.

Hong Kong-based Guotai Junan International said it had not been able to reach its chairman and chief executive Yim Fung – also known as Yan Feng – since Wednesday. The company, part of the mainland’s third-largest securities brokerage by total assets, said it had appointed deputy chief executive Qi Haiying as chairman, and Wong Tung Ching, another deputy chief executive, as chief executive.

Yim’s disappearance follows the investigation of Yao Gang, a vice-chairman at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and a former Guotai Junan executive. Yao was being investigated for suspected “serious violation of party discipline” – a euphemism for corruption – the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog, said 10 days ago.

Yim’s disappearance and the Yao investigation were believed to be related, a source at Guotai Junan said.

He is well-versed in Hong Kong’s securities industry

Christopher Cheung

“It’s an open secret that he was one of the few trusted aides of Yao during Yao’s tenure at Guotai Junan,” the source said. “The close relationship between them could probably pave a way for certain wrongdoings all the way from corruption and insider trading to collusion between the two to manipulate the stock market.”