2楼香格里拉的春天
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发表于 2006-6-27 14:22
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Auditors find billions in fraud at Ag Bank--Shanghai Daily June27/06
AUDITORS say they've uncovered 60.3 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion) worth of financial crimes and bookkeeping irregularities at the Agricultural Bank of China, underscoring the challenges regulators face as they attempt to reform the weakest of the nation's state-owned banks.
The probe discovered 51 cases of fraud worth 8.7 billion yuan and involving 157 employees, the China National Audit Office said in a Website statement yesterday. The investigation, which focused on 2004, covered the Beijing-based bank's headquarters and 21 branches.
"The cases included not only loan fraud involving persons outside the bank but also the embezzlement of funds by bank employees who conspired with outside parties," the statement said.
The bank also accepted 14.3 billion yuan in "irregular" deposits based on incomplete or fake identities in 2004 and granted 27.6 billion yuan in loans, mostly to car buyers and developers, without receiving proper collateral, the statement said.
An improper commercial-bill discounting business involved 9.7 billion yuan, it said.
And the lender also held 84.9 million yuan in cash reserves that weren't properly accounted for, according to the auditor. There was no word on whether anyone had been punished as a result of the audit.
Agricultural Bank, which holds 12 percent of China's US$4.7 trillion in banking assets, has long shouldered the duty to support the development of the nation's rural areas, negatively affecting its balance sheet.
Saddled with US$93 billion in non-performing loans, the lender may need between US$60 billion and US$70 billion for debt disposal and a shareholding overhaul, analysts said.
The figure compares with a collective US$60 billion that has been spent to bail out the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank since 2003.
Agricultural Bank's profit fell 48 percent to 1.04 billion yuan last year. Bad loans accounted for 26.17 percent of total lending at the end of 2005, although the ratio eased 17.8 percentage points from the end of 2000.
The country's banking authority has yet to unveil a plan to revamp Agricultural Bank, but speculation is rife that the troubled lender may be split into smaller units designed to let local governments share reform costs.
Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said earlier this month that it might take two to three years for state agencies to work out an overhaul plan for Agricultural Bank.
The top banking regulator also stressed that reform must provide a "rebirth" for the debt-ridden bank, indicating the agency may help Agricultural Bank find strategic investors after a capital injection.
[ 本帖最后由 june 于 2006-6-27 14:24 编辑 ].
