Hong Kong’s banking regulator has banned staff from making job referrals to institutions it regulates, effective immediately, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The change came about after The Wall Street Journal published an article saying that a top regulator at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority referred his son for an internship at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., under a programme known internally as “Sons and Daughters”.
The Monetary Authority is currently aiding US authorities in their investigation into J.P. Morgan for the programme, which reportedly saw the bank hire 222 candidates referred by a variety of China’s business and political elite.
The programme has been investigated by US authorities for the past two years in an attempt to determine whether the hires constitute as bribery under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
Peter Pang, one of three deputy chief executives at the HKMA, recommended his son for the internship in 2006. A spokeswoman for the HKMA said that Pang was not involved with, or have business dealings with J.P. Morgan through his work, and that his son went through a selection process before being offered a place.
Despite expressing that HKMA saw “no major problems with the referral” yesterday evening, a spokeswoman for the authority said that it would change its guidelines as a result of a “public perception issue”.
Pang’s referral was listed in an internal J.P. Morgan document, which was submitted to US investigators earlier this year. The majority of the “Sons and Daughters” hires listed were referred by government officials and executives in the mainland, but Pang was the only official named who works at an agency investigating the bank for the hires.
HKMA would not comment on if there would be an internal investigation into Pang’s conduct.
Photo: Wikipedia
