摩根大通中国高管方方辞职，下一个是谁

    《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）周日报道，正值美国政府调查摩根大通（J.P. Morgan）亚洲招聘行为之际，该行中国高层方方辞职。方方对媒体态度友善，和中共当局保持紧密关系。那么，还会有其他的摩根大通中国高管辞职吗？

    《华尔街日报》称，调查发现的电子邮件显示，摩根大通聘用光大集团（Everbright Group）董事长唐双宁之子牵扯到方方，这让他成了靶子。摩根大通一直想扩大和光大集团的业务往来。

    美方人员正在调查的问题是，摩根大通以及其他在华运营的美国银行以赢得业务为目的而聘用中国政府官员的子女是否违反了美国《反海外腐败法》（Foreign Corrupt Practices Act）。上述电子邮件牵涉到了方方，而与之类似的电子邮件肯定数不胜数。随着美国政府继续搜集证据，这些电子邮件将陆续流入媒体手中。为了避开这个风头，摩根大通最近退出了光大银行的香港IPO承销团。这次IPO的规模高达20亿美元。

    方方2001年进入摩根大通，后升任这家银行中国投行业务首席执行官，2009年又被任命为亚洲投行业务副董事长。他和中共党内人士建立了联系，2008年当选政协委员。2011年接受《金融时报》（Financial Times）采访时，方方提到政协时说：“它打开了通向中国最高领导层的大门。”

    方方还和青年一代中的关键人物保持着联系。他是香港华菁会（Hua Jing Society）主席。这个组织成立于2011年，发起人是一批在大陆出生、在海外接受教育，随后在香港开始职业生涯的年轻专业人士。华菁即“中国精英”之意，李宁品牌创始人李宁和当红男演员黎明在华菁会担任名誉主席。

    方方辞职后留下的一个问题是，摩根大通其他高管在聘用所谓的中国“太子党”过程中发挥了什么作用。摩根大通中国业务负责人是邵自力。他曾担任过律师，2009年进入摩根大通。此前本刊曾向摩根大通询问邵自力在聘用中国官员子女方面扮演了什么角色，但这家银行中国区的发言人梁丽华拒绝就此发表评论。

    过去一年中，美国证券交易委员会（SEC）已经将针对在华招聘事务的调查扩大到了几乎所有美国大型银行，包括摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）、高盛（Goldman Sachs）和花旗集团（Citigroup）。此举已经产生了影响。瑞银集团（UBS）已经因为招聘问题暂停了两位投行人员的工作，包括该集团中国IPO业务的负责人，原因是内部调查发现瑞银聘用了中国一家拟上市化工企业的董事长之女，那两人都有牵扯。

    与此同时，对摩根大通的调查还在继续推进。据彭博社（Bloomberg）报道，去年底，该行亚太区业务前负责人在纽约肯尼迪国际机场被调查人员截住，询问和招聘事务有关的问题。上个月，《纽约时报》（the New York Times）报道称，中国监管部门一位高级官员曾在两年前要求摩根大通首席执行官杰米•戴蒙聘用自己世交的儿子。此人目前就在摩根大通任职。

    在调查美国银行在华事务的过程中，无论是戴蒙、方方，还是摩根大通的任何成员都未传出过遭到调查的消息。然而，随着美国调查人员步步逼近，可能会有更多的高管发现自己已经不堪重负。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    J.P. Morgan's (JPM) top dealmaker in China, Fang Fang, a media-friendly executive with close ties to the Communist Party, has stepped down from his role amid the U.S. government's investigation into the bank's hiring practices in Asia, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. But are more resignations in China coming?

    Fang became a vulnerable figure after investigators found emails linking him and the hiring of the son of China Everbright Group's chairman, the Journal said. J.P. Morgan was seeking to do more business with the Chinese bank.

    U.S. investigators are determining whether J.P. Morgan and other U.S. banks operating in China violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by hiring the sons and daughters of China officials in order to win business. Countless more emails like Fang's surely exist, and they will continue leaking into the press as the government builds its case. J.P. Morgan, in reaction to the heat, recently withdrew from underwriting China Everbright's $2 billion listing in Hong Kong.

    Fang started at J.P. Morgan in 2001, rising to become CEO of J.P. Morgan's Investment Bank in China before adding the role of vice chairman of investment banking in Asia in 2009. He cultivated relationships with Communist Party members. In 2008 he joined the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the private citizens' advisory group that works with officials to shape policy. "It opens doors to the country's top leaders," he said of the CPPCC, in a 2011 interview with the Financial Times.

    Fang also cultivated relationships with key young people. Fang serves as the chairman of a Hong Kong society club called Hua Jing Society, founded in 2011 by a group of young professionals who were born in Mainland China, educated abroad, and started their careers in Hong Kong. The literal meaning in Chinese is "elite Chinese." Chinese apparel brand Li Ning's founder Li Ning and popular actor Leon Lai Ming serve as honorary chairmen.

    What's unclear following Fang's resignation is what role others played in J.P. Morgan's hiring of China's so-called princelings. J.P. Morgan's China operations are led by an executive named Zili Shao, a former lawyer who joined the bank in 2009. J.P. Morgan China's head of communications Lisa Liang previously declined to comment on Fortune's questions about the role he played in hiring of Chinese officials' children.

    The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened investigations over the past year into almost all the big American banks, including Morgan Stanley (MS), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Citigroup (C), concerning their hiring practices in China. There has already been fallout. UBS suspended two bankers, including its top IPO banker in China, over hiring concerns after an internal investigation found the executives were involved in hiring the daughter of the chairman of a Chinese chemicals company looking to go public.

    Meanwhile, the investigation at J.P. Morgan keeps growing. Late last year, J.P. Morgan's former Asia-Pacific head was stopped at JFK Airport in New York for questioning about the bank's hiring programs, according to Bloomberg. And last month the New York Times reported that a top Chinese regulator asked J.P. Morgan's CEO Jamie Dimon to hire a young family friend two years ago. The man now works at the bank.

    As the investigation into U.S. banks in China drags on, neither Dimon, Fang, nor any individuals at J.P. Morgan are said to be under investigation themselves. But as U.S. investigators press on, more executives could find themselves pressured out.