The Nanfang / Blog

Guangdong Woman, with RMB 44 Billion, Named China’s Richest

Posted: 10/22/2014 8:55 am

Two Chinese women standing in front of a Cartier shop

Yang Huiyan, a 33 year-old woman from Shunde, Guangdong, was voted the richest woman in China for the fourth year in a row by Hurun Research Institute, reported Nandu. Hurun valued Yang’s net worth at a whopping RMB 44 billion ($7.2 billion).

A majority shareholder of her father’s real state company, Country Garden Holding, Yang has nabbed the title more than any other woman in the nine years Hurun has published the rich list. Most of the other women on the list come from the property and financial sectors, accounting for 28 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Guangdong is home to four of the 50 women on the rich list, Hurun said. The list’s threshold is RMB 5 billion, a 36 percent increase over last year, while the median average wealth for all women on the list is RMB 10.9 billion, a 14 percent jump over the previous year.

While the wealth of China’s richest women is no doubt impressive, it’s still disproportionately lower than the wealth of their male counterparts. Hurun’s wealth threshold for men is RMB 20.5 billion and the median average was RMB 45 billion, more than four times that of women.

Shenzhen and Beijing remain the two most friendly cities for female entrepreneurs, each producing nine women on the list, followed closely by Shanghai.

The title of the country’s second richest woman went to Chan Liwa, president of Fu Wah International Group.

Photos: Red Luxury 

Haohao

CCTV Accuses Bank of China of Money Laundering, Helping Elite Move Abroad

Posted: 07/9/2014 5:57 pm

bank of chinaCCTV has broadcast a report accusing the Bank of China of engaging in money laundering to aid wealthy Chinese citizens emigrate abroad, reports the SCMP.

The money laundering is allegedly being done through a money transferring system at the Bank of China called You Huitonghe. Through the system, wealthy Chinese are able to send an unlimited amount of funds overseas after applying for immigrant investor programs.

The total amount involved is unknown, but one Guangdong branch has reportedly sent 6 billion yuan (US$970 million) overseas. By law, a Chinese citizen isn’t allowed to move more than US$50 thousand out of the country per year.

The CCTV report went undercover at an emigration information conference at a five-star hotel in Beijing’s Central Business District. There, an employee from the Shuguang Xili branch of the Bank of China was supposedly caught on video saying:

What we help you do is exchange large sums of money into foreign currency. You can do it all in one step. 

The Bank of China employee was to have brazenly said:

We don’t care where your money comes from, or how you made it. In any situation, we can help you take care of it and move it outside the country.

The Bank of China employee further described the process of laundering the money:

The Renminbi is first transferred to a Guangdong branch, then the currency is exchanged (into another currency). This high exchange rate is accomplished with the cooperation between us and the immigration intermediaries. We won’t tell anyone else. It’s only when the client himself comes asking questions that we’ll finally start talking.

Immigration intermediaries are said to have conspired with the Bank of China in order to obfuscate the source of the funds. An immigration intermediary summed up Bank of China’s role:

If you want to apply in an investor program, you will have to put your money through the Bank of China. To stay over there and prosper, if you have the need, then just go to them directly.

Photo: Planet Minecraft

Haohao

Guangzhou company buys majority stake in Hong Kong bank

Posted: 02/18/2014 10:48 am

Yuexiu Group, the largest State-owned enterprise in Guangzhou, is buying a 75% stake in Hong Kong’s Chong Hing Bank for HK$11.64 billion, Chinanews reports.

Yuexiu Group’s partnership with Chong Hing Bank marks the first time a non-financial institution has purchased a Hong Kong bank in the past 27 years. It will be an historic opportunity for Chong Hing, too, as Hong Kong and Guangzhou develop more closely together. Yuexiu said Chong Hing will maintain its steady business in Hong Kong while utilizing its connection with Yuexiu to speed up its business in Mainland China.

If you’ve been to Hong Kong, you’ve no doubt seen Chong Hing’s branches around the city. It has been around for 60 years and has the lowest default rates of any bank in the territory. Guangzhou’s government backs the investment and has granted Yuexiu RMB4 billion in loans.

Haohao

“Iron Mike” Tyson coming to the PRD

Posted: 08/24/2012 8:00 am

The former heavyweight world champion and the namesake of one of the greatest Nintendo games ever made is coming to the Pearl River Delta next month.

Iron Mike Tyson has been invited by CLSA, a brokerage in Hong Kong, to give talk at an annual conference, which is also a bit of a party.  The CLSA is known for bringing in unique characters for its events.  Sarah Palin came in 2009, marking her first visit to Asia (although she saw it from her house). George Clooney and Tom Jones are also past speakers.  None possess sound financial insight or dispense valuable wisdom on the OTC derivatives market, but they are entertaining.

The Wall Street Journal says Iron Mike will appear at the conference on September 12:

“It’s really our flagship event,” says Edmund Bradley, CLSA’s group head of research. “Our clients are obviously interested in hearing from remarkable people who’ve had a role in shaping culture—people who can offer something unique and memorable.”

But the paper notes there’s been a mixed response on Tyson’s visit among Hong Kong’s financiers:

“It’s a letdown. I don’t think I’ll learn anything from him,” said one local portfolio manager, who still intends to attend the forum, which runs from Sept. 10-14 and will include 40 other keynote and specialist speakers, including Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz and Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development.

“I guess it’d be comical the drunker I got,” said Jeb Altonaga, who heads Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services. “If he was in a celebrity boxing match, that’d be better, especially if they’d have one of their managing directors jump in the ring with him.”

Mike Tyson has come along way since his fighting days.  He’s settled into a stable relationship and recently launched his own one-man show in New York called Undisputed Truth.

If you’ve ever wondered how to TKO Tyson (not a problem for Buster Douglas) on Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, here’s a primer.

 

Haohao
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