One of JPMorgan Chase's top deal makers in China and a focus of the US government's investigation into the bank's hiring practices in China is resigning, according to an internal memo sent to staff on Monday.
Fang Fang, who has spent more than a decade at JPMorgan, most recently as the bank's chief executive for China investment banking and a vice-chairman for Asia investment banking, had recently "informed us of his desire to retire," Therese Esperdy, JPMorgan's co-head of banking for Asia-Pacific, said in the memo.
Since last year, JPMorgan has been the subject of a federal bribery investigation in the US that is looking into whether the bank's Sons and Daughters hiring program violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by linking the employment of the children of senior Chinese officials and business leaders to winning roles on specific investment banking deals.
Fang, who is in his late 40s, was one of several JPMorgan executives whose emails discussing hiring practices were turned over to the authorities by the bank. In one of them, he wrote: "You all know I have always been a big believer of the Sons and Daughters programme - it almost has a linear relationship" with winning assignments to advise Chinese companies.
Neither Fang nor any JPMorgan executives have been accused of wrongdoing as a result of the US investigation. News of Fang's departure was first reported on Monday by The Wall Street Journal. After Fang's resignation, JPMorgan appointed Frank Gong, another senior banker who was formerly the bank's chief China economist, as its chairman of China investment banking.
©2014 The New York Times News Service
