AgBank scam gives Chinese banks new black eye

Beijing

AGRICULTURAL Bank of China has suffered another risk black eye. China's third-largest bank has admitted it is trying to track down 3.9 billion yuan (S$847 million) missing in Beijing. Though it's a tiny fraction of the state-owned behemoth's balance sheet, suspected embezzlement is an extra reason to doubt Chinese banks' controls.

According to the report by Caixin, the missing money involved a scam by two junior employees who sold bills of exchange and invested the proceeds in the stock market before shares plunged last summer.