Three Citic Securities executives in Chinese police probe suspected of insider dealing and leaking inside information

Three top executives of China's biggest brokerage, Citic Securities, are under police investigation on the mainland, suspected of insider dealing and leaking inside information, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange last night.

It said company president Cheng Boming, head of operations Yu Xinli, and Wang Jinling, from its information technology centre, were under investigation. Xinhua reported on its microblog that Wang was deputy manager of the IT centre.

The mainland authorities have been looking into reports of rule-breaking and illegal behaviour by financial institutions since the market rout in June.

Four other senior executives of Citic Securities, including managing director Xu Gang, were taken away last month by police investigating suspected insider dealing. Xinhua reported they "admitted criminal facts" on August 30.

After the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 25 per cent in a few weeks from mid-June, and then extended a losing streak, the central government started to investigate off-market margin lenders, "malicious short sellers", and brokerages engaged in connecting clients with illegal lending platforms.