China Construction Bank presence in small over-banked NZ market best explained as wanting a presence in an Anglo sphere tax haven
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Jenny Shipley
John Shewan
China Construction Bank is one of the largest in China and the world.In 2014 it set-up a subsidiary in
New Zealand, a relatively small economy that does not seem to quite fit CCB's global strategy.
CCB's local board includes former prime minister Jenny Shipley and ex-PwC chairman John Shewan,who is best known as a tax expert. Shipley was a director of CCB in China between 2007and 2013.
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Read more: https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/reserve-bank-registers-china-construction-bank-bd-159198
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CCB's seems to have had a long term ambition to enter the New Zealand market,and appears to have ensured that it has access to the highest levels of government in New Zealand. However, all this seems out of proportion to the business available in the small, over-banked New Zealand market.
Meanwhile, in 2015 CCB earned itself a warning from the US Fed for its poor anti-money laundering controls. The WSJ reported that US " regulators required the bank to better follow basic elements of U.S. law, including responding to regulators’ information requests, identifying risky customers, tracking transaction data, documenting and investigating suspicious activity, and monitoring so-called correspondent accounts with other banks."
In 2016 CCB managers were found to have been involved in graft by the Chinese Government.
That CCB is attracted to New Zealand as a tax haven, one of few in the Anglo sphere, seems to be the most likely explanation for its presence in New Zealand, given its history, the very high level contacts it has sought to cultivate,and its board appointments.
END
Fed Faults China Construction Bank Over Anti-Money-Laundering Efforts
By RYAN TRACY and LINGLING WEI
China's top anti-graft authority has found irregularities at the country's second-largest lender, China Construction Bank Corp., it said on Wednesday, as the country works to weed out corruption in state-owned enterprises.
An inspection by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection found 336 people responsible in cases including disciplinary violations, the commission said on its website. That phrase is a Communist Party euphemism for graft.
Internal management had not been strict enough, the agency said, and some officials who used their positions to obtain favours for friends and families were given demerits or other punishments, it added, saying there were 75 cases of administrative sanctions and disciplinary action against 30 people.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged a far-reaching campaign against corruption, targeting sectors from the military to state-owned enterprises. The anti-graft drive has felled many of this political opponents, including the once-powerful domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang.
CCB could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Engen Tham and Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Jenny Shipley
John Shewan
China Construction Bank is one of the largest in China and the world.In 2014 it set-up a subsidiary in
New Zealand, a relatively small economy that does not seem to quite fit CCB's global strategy.
CCB's local board includes former prime minister Jenny Shipley and ex-PwC chairman John Shewan,who is best known as a tax expert. Shipley was a director of CCB in China between 2007and 2013.
Copyright NBR. Cannot be reproduced without permission.
Read more: https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/reserve-bank-registers-china-construction-bank-bd-159198
Follow us: @TheNBR on Twitter | NBROnline on Facebook
CCB's seems to have had a long term ambition to enter the New Zealand market,and appears to have ensured that it has access to the highest levels of government in New Zealand. However, all this seems out of proportion to the business available in the small, over-banked New Zealand market.
Meanwhile, in 2015 CCB earned itself a warning from the US Fed for its poor anti-money laundering controls. The WSJ reported that US " regulators required the bank to better follow basic elements of U.S. law, including responding to regulators’ information requests, identifying risky customers, tracking transaction data, documenting and investigating suspicious activity, and monitoring so-called correspondent accounts with other banks."
In 2016 CCB managers were found to have been involved in graft by the Chinese Government.
That CCB is attracted to New Zealand as a tax haven, one of few in the Anglo sphere, seems to be the most likely explanation for its presence in New Zealand, given its history, the very high level contacts it has sought to cultivate,and its board appointments.
END
References
Fed Faults China Construction Bank Over Anti-Money-Laundering Efforts
By RYAN TRACY and LINGLING WEI
U.S. regulators faulted China Construction Bank Corp. for deficiencies in its program to spot money laundering, the latest U.S. crackdown on foreign-owned firms.
The Federal Reserve and New York’s state regulator found problems at the New York branch of one of China’s largest banks, according to an enforcement action released Tuesday.
The regulators required the bank to better follow basic elements of U.S. law, including responding to regulators’ information requests, identifying risky customers, tracking transaction data, documenting and investigating suspicious activity, and monitoring so-called correspondent accounts with other banks. They required the firm to write and execute a plan to fix the problems, and its board of directors agreed to do so on July 13, the document said.
The Fed and other U.S. agencies have stepped up oversight of banks’ anti-money-laundering programs in recent years as they try to root out illicit activity in the U.S. financial system. Large, overseas firms such as BNP Paribas SA and HSBC Holdings PLC have paid multibillion-dollar penalties for faulty compliance programs.
The regulatory action Tuesday didn’t include a fine. U.S. agencies could issue one later if the bank fails to fix the problems or if it is found to have violated anti-money-laundering laws.
The bank also must hire an independent third party to evaluate whether it properly identified and reported suspicious transactions involving exchanges of U.S. dollars and foreign currency during the second half of 2013.
Press officials at China Construction Bank headquarters in Beijing couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday night.
China Construction Bank, the second-largest state-owned lender in China by profit, launched operations in New York in 2009, its first branch in North America. Like other big Chinese banks, including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank has been branching out in foreign markets in a bid to provide financing for Chinese companies seeking to expand overseas.
The New York branch of China Construction Bank has mainly focused on offering trade financing for Chinese companies.
With its relatively narrow focus in the American market, China Construction Bank still sees China’s own market as its main source of growth, according to the bank’s executives. It is the largest home-mortgage lender in China.
China's top anti-graft authority has found irregularities at the country's second-largest lender, China Construction Bank Corp., it said on Wednesday, as the country works to weed out corruption in state-owned enterprises.
An inspection by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection found 336 people responsible in cases including disciplinary violations, the commission said on its website. That phrase is a Communist Party euphemism for graft.
Internal management had not been strict enough, the agency said, and some officials who used their positions to obtain favours for friends and families were given demerits or other punishments, it added, saying there were 75 cases of administrative sanctions and disciplinary action against 30 people.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged a far-reaching campaign against corruption, targeting sectors from the military to state-owned enterprises. The anti-graft drive has felled many of this political opponents, including the once-powerful domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang.
CCB could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Engen Tham and Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Nick Macfie)
