HAITONG Securities Co. said Friday it is being probed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for alleged rule violations, the third Chinese brokerage in two days to announce it is under regulatory scrutiny.

    Haitong didn’t say what rules it is suspected of violating and CSRC spokesman Zhang Xiaojun declined to elaborate when asked about the probe at a briefing Friday.

    The Shanghai-listed company said it is cooperating with the investigation and obeying orders to disclose information, according to a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange Friday. The brokerage’s operations were normal, the statement said.

    China’s securities firms are in focus because of a crackdown by the police and regulators after a market slide in June, as well as events including the disappearance of the head of a Hong Kong-listed brokerage.

    Haitong’s shares declined Friday along with two other brokerages, Guosen Securities Co. and CITIC Securities Co., that announced Thursday they were being investigated by the securities regulator for alleged rule violations.

    China’s probes since the summer stock rout have included executives from CITIC Securities, China’s biggest brokerage, being arrested for alleged insider trading. No comment has been available from those under investigation.

    In Shanghai, Haitong and Guotai Junan Securities Co. are among State-owned enterprises that face checks by anti-graft inspectors, according a Communist Party discipline committee statement.

    Hong Kong-listed Guotai Junan International Holdings Ltd. said Monday last week that it had lost contact with chairman and chief executive officer Yim Fung.

    CITIC Securities had another setback last week. The Securities Association of China said that the firm had over-reported equity swap data by 1 trillion yuan (US$156 billion) between April and September. Numbers were inflated for new swaps business and for terminations, the association said. The brokerage blamed a system upgrade for the incorrect numbers. (SD-Agencies)