The woes of Huarong pose dilemmas for Beijing

THE EXECUTIVES of Huarong Asset Management have not been able to hide from China’s authorities. A corruption probe into the state-owned financier in April 2018 sent senior staff and business partners scattering abroad, only to be rounded up in an international dragnet. One casino tycoon with close links to Huarong was captured in Cambodia. Its former chairman, Lai Xiaomin, was put to death in January for what a Chinese court called egregious financial crimes and bigamy. Until recently the company proved much better at hiding its debt and disguising losses. Huarong, which as of June had 1.7trn yuan ($262bn) in assets, is thought to have lent with abandon to some of China’s riskiest borrowers. Three years after regulators began mucking out the mess left by its previous management, the risks are spilling into global markets.