CMB denies US mortgage market loss

China Merchants Bank (CMB) denied rumors that it had lost US$14 million on the US secondary mortgage market, Xinhua reported (in Chinese). According to CMB head Ma Weihua, the bank had sold off its investments in August 2006 before the downturn in the market this year. The selloff, said Ma, gained CMB a considerable return on the bonds, which it had bought in 2004. Ma maintained that the bank's investment management principles are "profound market analysis, cautious choice of opportunity and dynamic risk management." Recent media reports have suggested that both CMB and Bank of China (BOC) had lost money on investments in foreign bond markets. BOC has not denied the reports.