(Bloomberg) -- Harvest Fund Management Co., one of the largest mutual fund firms in China, said its long-term chairman Henry Zhao Xuejun has resigned amid an investigation by Chinese authorities.
Zhao is cooperating with the probe related to personal matters, the company said in a statement on its website Friday. Co-Chairman An Guoyong has assumed Zhao’s responsibilities and operations remain normal, the company said, without providing more details.
Deutsche Bank AG-backed Harvest ranks the fourth-largest mutual fund firm in China, running an average 636 billion yuan ($89 billion) in assets excluding money market funds in the second quarter, according to data from the Asset Management Association of China.
Zhao’s probe came shortly after the nation’s audit office conducted comprehensive on-site inspections of the country’s biggest mutual funds in one of its most thorough examinations into the sector. The firms are facing a pay cap amid President Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” drive, and regulators have cut their management fees in a bid to better protect fund investors in a falling stock market.
Zhao joined Harvest in 2000 and was the longest serving CEO in the asset management industry in China, according to a post on the company website. He has been the vice president of the Asset Management Association of China, and the expert director of the Insurance Asset Management Association of China, according to the website.
Since 1999, Harvest has grown into a mutual fund manager with more than $200 billion of assets, according to a letter posted by Zhao in 2020.
Harvest Fund is 30% owned by DWS, the asset management unit of Deutsche Bank.
--With assistance from Chongjing Li.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
