Beijing banker jumps to his death
State-owned financial firm says the suicide of its chief supervisor not related to huge losses from trading gold and silver futures
A 60-year-old banker at state-owned China Jianyin Investment died after jumping off a building in the financial district in Beijing.
Wang Shiqiang, the chairman of the board of supervisors at Jianyin Investment, a financial conglomerate controlled by Central Huijin Investment, a domestic arm of the country's sovereign wealth fund, was confirmed dead on Wednesday afternoon.
The company said in a statement yesterday "Wang passed away in Beijing on April 17 due to health reasons", without further elaborating.
A Beijing-based spokesman at Jianyin Investment confirmed with the South China Morning Post that the senior banker's unexpected death was suicide but subsequently denied speculation that the incident was related to substantial losses from trading in gold and silver futures.
The spokesman declined to offer further comment and said the company expressed its deepest sympathy to all those affected by the incident.
According to an official at Central Huijin who met Wang a few days ago, he was unaware of the reason for Wang's sudden death.
The death of Wang, who jumped off a building on Jingrong Street - China's Manhattan, where major financial and large companies are located - may be related to his prolonged depression, according to people with the company.