Bao Fan, who is also executive director of the bank, is a major figure in the Chinese tech industry and has played a key role in the emergence of various domestic Internet startups.
Willer Chen, senior analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia, told Bloomberg that the executive’s continued absence “could be a long-term overhang on the stock, given Bao is the key man for the company”. Founded in 2005, the group has supervised the IPOs of several domestic Internet giants, including leading ecommerce firm JD.com.
In 2017, Chinese-Canadian businessman Xiao Jianhua was arrested by mainland authorities and received a 13-year jail sentence under corruption charges last August.