AgBank may lose US$593m due to notes resale

    AGRICULTURAL Bank of China Ltd. (AgBank) found 3.9 billion yuan (US$593 million) exposed to risk after an incident in the notes resale business, it said Friday.

    Agbank, China’s third-largest lender, is working with authorities to investigate the incident that took place at its Beijing branch, it said. It did not provide further details. Earlier Friday, Chinese financial publication Caixin reported that AgBank may lose 3.8 billion yuan from a bills of exchange scam allegedly carried out by two employees. The report, quoting unnamed sources, said the employees had illegally sold the bills of exchange to an unnamed third party and then used the proceeds to invest in the stock market, which has slumped since the middle of last year.

    China Coal Energy expects net loss for 2015

    CHINA Coal Energy Co. said after trading hours Friday that it expects to swing to a net loss in 2015 from a year-earlier profit due to the slowdown in China and oversupply in the coal industry.

    The Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed coal company said it expects 2.3 billion yuan to 2.8 billion yuan (US$349.7 to US$425.7 million) 2015 net loss, compared with a net profit of 766.7 million yuan in 2014. It expects to release results in March.

    Minsheng 2015 net profit up 3.5%

    CHINA Minsheng Banking Corp.’s full-year net profit rose 3.5 percent to 46.11 billion yuan (US$7.00 billion) in 2015 from 44.55 billion yuan a year earlier, the Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed bank said Friday.

    But it didn’t give reasons for the earnings increase in its preliminary results. The firm’s full-year operating income increased 14 percent to 154.4 billion yuan from 135.5 billion yuan the previous year.

    Shanshui unable to make payments on bond

    SHANDONG Shanshui Cement Group Ltd., the subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed China Shanshui Cement Group Ltd., said Friday it would be unable to make a timely payment of principal and interest on a 1.8 billion Chinese yuan (US$273 million) medium-term note maturing Thursday.

    The firm, which defaulted on a different bond in November, posted a notice of its inability to pay on the website of one of China’s main bond clearing houses. The company cited shareholder disputes that had closed off financing channels as the main reason it could not redeem the bond on time.