China’s banking regulator fined China Minsheng Bank, the country’s largest privately owned bank, for selling 1.65 billion yuan ($249 million) of fake wealth management products. The bank was ordered to pay a fine of 27.5 million yuan ($4.16 million), the biggest fine imposed on a bank, according to Caixin. In addition, 13 bank executives and employees were handed penalties including fines and bans from the banking industry, according to a statement released Thursday by the Beijing office of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC). The Minsheng case is only the most recent in a series of wealth management product scandals in China. In 2012, Huaxia Bank, a midsize commercial bank, blamed an employee at a Shanghai branch for selling unauthorized wealth management products, causing dozens of depositors to lose millions of yuan. The bank eventually reimbursed customers after initially refusing. Violations in the sale of wealth management products were also found more recently at other banks, including Agricultural Bank of China.
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