Top JPMorgan Banker Resigns Amid Hiring Probe

L-R: Director-General Debt Management Office, Dr Abraham Nwankwo, Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Mr Abdala Hamdok and Director, Planning, UNECA, Mr George Ogboro, at the Seventh AU-ECA joint annual meeting in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN

A senior JPMorgan executive in Hong Kong is leaving the bank amid an ongoing investigation into the company’s hiring practices in China.
Fang Fang, a 12-year employee, was one of JPMorgan’s top China dealmakers and most recently served as vice chairman of the firm’s Asia investment banking group.
Therese Esperdy, JPMorgan’s co-head of banking for Asia-Pacific, wrote in an internal company memo circulated Monday that Fang had informed the bank of his “desire to retire.”
Fang had come under scrutiny for his reported ties to a program at JPMorgan that is now the subject of a US investigation.
The program, called “Sons and Daughters” and run out of JPMorgan’s Hong Kong office, is thought to have tracked the children of top Communist Party officials hired by the bank.
Documents obtained by investigators list the hires and their ability to win new business for the bank in China.
If there is an explicit link between the hiring decisions, new deals and increased revenue for the bank, investigators could make the case that JPMorgan was in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The FCPA makes it illegal for American companies to pay bribes as a part of doing business.
Investigators have not accused any JPMorgan employees of wrongdoing.
Marie Cheung, a spokeswoman for the bank, said that Fang’s decision to retire was a personal one, and she added that JPMorgan is cooperating with regulators.