New | CITIC Securities stock rises after announcing exit of current chair
Investment icon Wang Dongming would not act as chairman in the next board
CITIC Securities share prices jumped on Tuesday after the company announced the upcoming exit of its iconic current chairman, Wang Dongming, although no specific date has been set for his departure.
CITIC Securities, where several of its top executives have come under investigation, said its current chairman Wang Dongming, would not be named as a chairman candidate for the next board, “due to age reasons”.
CITIC Securities’ shares initially climbed by 4.51 per cent in Hong Kong, and 4.22 per cent in Shanghai after the announcement at 1:10 pm on Tuesday.
Wang, 64, will continue as chairman of China’s biggest brokerage until the next board election, Citic said in a statement to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday.
Wang is an investment titan with deep political connections in China’s finance sector, whose father served as a former vice minister of foreign policy.
Citic Corp., the brokerage’s largest shareholder, plans for Zhang Youjun, 50, to join the board of Citic Securities, the brokerage said in the statement.
Several top executives of CITIC Securities, including its president Chen Boming, are under investigation by the Chinese police, suspected of inside trading and leaking inside information during the national campaign of market saving. A stock rout hit China’s equities markets in mid-June, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunging by 40 per cent from the seven-year high it hit at that time.
The Chinese authorities are carrying on a nation-wide investigation into “market misconduct” during the rout. Suspects being investigated include traders, reporters and senior officials like Yao Gang, the vice chairman of securities watchdog the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
