Regulator criticizes insurers’ self-inspections

    THE insurance regulator has issued warnings to 10 companies after they failed to properly carry out self-inspections on their risk levels, the Securities Daily newspaper reported Friday.

    Citing an internal report by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, the newspaper said the companies, including three property insurance firms and seven life insurers, were among firms ordered to undertake self-inspections in July. “A number of firms were just going through the motions during the self-inspections, submitting incomplete responses, did not make adequate disclosure of risk and there was a large gap between the self-inspections’ conclusions and that of the regulatory departments,” the report said.

    First Capital buys JPMorgan stake in venture

    FIRST Capital Securities Co. plans to acquire JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s minority stake in a Chinese joint venture, in what would be the first departure by a prominent global investment bank from China’s securities sector.

    The Shenzhen-listed securities firm said Friday that it would buy the 33.3 percent stake in joint venture JP Morgan First Capital Securities Co. for 306.8 million yuan (US$44.11 million). JP Morgan First Capital Securities will become First Capital Securities’ wholly owned subsidiary after the transaction, according to the filing.

    Huishan halts trading after short-seller report

    CHINA Huishan Dairy suspended trading Friday after a report from U.S.-based short-seller Muddy Waters questioned the firm’s profits and said it had inflated spending on its cattle farms to artificially raise capital expenditure figures.

    Shares in Huishan Dairy were suspended down 2.14 percent Friday morning. Muddy Waters said it believed the dairy to be worth “close to zero” because it had misrepresented its self-sufficiency on alfalfa used as feed for cattle, was over-leveraged and had overstated its spending.

    CNPC to relocate headquarters staff

    CHINA National Petroleum Co.’s plan to trim staff at its Beijing headquarters was about relocating jobs instead of real layoffs, a company spokesperson and an independent board director said Friday.

    The firm, also known as CNPC, said Tuesday it planned to cut staff at its headquarters by 20 percent. CNPC, China’s top oil and gas group, did not specify how many jobs will be affected. Approximately 3,000 people work at the group’s Beijing headquarters.