A surprise sacking at China Merchants Bank frightens investors
One of the world’s largest banks sheds tens of billions of dollars in market value
CHINA MERCHANTS BANK has always stood out from the pack. It was founded by a former communist guerrilla in 1987 as China’s first commercial lender with a corporate-shareholding structure. It is part of a group with ties to a Qing dynasty project that sought in the 19th century to build an indigenous steam-powered shipping industry in order to compete with the West. The English name “merchants’‘ is a poor rendition of the Chinese, which is better translated as “investor recruitment”.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Executive exit”
Finance & economics April 23rd 2022
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