Senior executives of Oriental Jincheng were investigated and led to a series of corruption cases in the field of credit rating
Money rating
Recently, Jin Yongshou, the former general manager of Oriental Jincheng International Credit Rating Co., Ltd., a well-known rating agency, and Cui Runhai, the former general manager of Oriental Jincheng Jiangsu Branch, were "double-opened". The suspected crime was transferred to the procuratorial organ for review and prosecution in accordance with the law. Case transfer.
The Eastern Jincheng series of corruption cases are typical of small industries and big corruption.
As senior executives of state-owned credit rating agencies, Jin Yongshou and Cui Runhai used financial resources and job conveniences in their hands to harm the public and privately engage in the transfer of benefits, recklessly accepting property, and the amount involved was huge.
This year is the final year of the battle to prevent and resolve financial risks.
Investigating this case is an important measure to implement the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and deepen the anti-corruption work in the financial field. It is a positive breakthrough in the expansion and deepening of financial anti-corruption from the traditional credit field to the intermediary information service field.
Collect "rating fees" to provide help for corporate credit ratings
In December 2019, the disciplinary inspection and supervision team of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission found that Cui Runhai, general manager of the Jiangsu branch of Oriental Jincheng, a subsidiary of China Orient Asset Management Co., Ltd., a company under the supervision of the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, had conspired with others. Helped a certain enterprise in Jiangsu to raise its credit rating, received huge benefits, and was suspected of duty crime.
On January 3, 2020, Cui Runhai was under review and investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law, and was taken lien.
Dagong International and Oriental Jincheng, where Cui Runhai worked successively, are two state-owned credit rating agencies and have certain influence in the domestic financial market.
"We initially judged that Cui Runhai is likely to lead to a series of corruption cases in the credit rating field. The task force has increased its efforts to deal with the case, prompting him to explain the problem as soon as possible, and use this as an opportunity to gain insight into the construction of party style and clean government in the field of credit rating." Relevant comrades of the Commission's Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission told reporters.
Cui Runhai quickly confessed that in order to thank for his help in credit rating, he once gave a bonus to Jin Yong, then general manager of Oriental Jincheng Company.
On January 10, 2020, shortly after Cui Runhai was detained, Oriental Jincheng organized a warning education conference for middle-level and above managers.
Two days later, Jin Yongshou voluntarily surrendered and accepted the investigation.
After investigation, Cui Runhai took advantage of his position as Vice President of Marketing of Dagong International, Marketing Director of the Marketing Development Department, and General Manager of Oriental Jincheng Jiangsu Branch to provide assistance in credit rating of many companies, introduce bond issuance business to several securities companies, and receive huge amounts of money. bribe.
Grant Jin Yong used his position as director, vice president, president of Dagong International Review Committee, and general manager of Dongfang Jincheng to provide assistance for credit ratings of many companies, introduce engineering projects to relevant banks, and accept bribes from project introducers and evaluated companies .
With the arrival of Jin Yongshou and Cui Runhai, the "lid" of corruption cases in the credit rating field was gradually lifted.
On July 1, 2020, a department head of Oriental Jincheng took the initiative to explain the problem to the organization; a few days later, another employee took the initiative to confess the illegal collection of "rating fees" and other issues... As of now, 4 employees except Oriental Jincheng In addition to the personnel, the Eastern Jincheng series of corruption cases also involved many other financial institution staff.
Money rating, "regular customers" commit crimes, many people, many rent-seeking patterns
As executives of state-owned credit rating agencies, how did Jin Yongshou and Cui Runhai use ratings to make money?
Credit rating refers to an activity or process that uses a set of relevant indicator systems as the basis for consideration to indicate the ability and willingness of various market participants and various financial instrument issuers to repay their debts, and to measure the degree of default risk.
Generally divided into corporate credit ratings, securities credit ratings, project credit ratings, and national sovereign credit ratings, which are widely used in financial activities such as the bond market.
Generally, the higher the credit rating of the assessed institution, the lower the financing cost in the capital market; the higher the reputation of the credit rating institution, the more investors adopt it.
Therefore, issuers in the capital market generally have the motivation to obtain high credit ratings from authoritative credit rating agencies, which to some extent creates room for rent-seeking ratings.
In the confession, Cui Runhai recounted his first rent-seeking experience using ratings: “The client expressed his willingness to raise the credit rating by taking more benefits. In order to pass the review smoothly, I asked the director of the review committee for help and asked the supervisor for review. The president of the company had a meal with the customer, and the customer was recognized by the president. I did not think it was a big problem to raise the level, so he agreed to the customer’s request. He also expressed his willingness to give out 2 million yuan as a reward. To ensure that nothing went wrong, I did it separately The work of other judges. The rating report was issued as they wished, and the client also honored the reward."
"Since then, I have discovered that a level increase can be worth so much money, dozens or even hundreds of times more than the commission of tens of thousands of yuan for a project." Cui Runhai said.
The loose management in the credit rating field and the flexibility of grading standards provide opportunities for those who want to make money.
The rent-seeking process is usually relatively hidden, and most of them are back-to-back private transactions.
Jin Yongshou wrote in his confession: “For fear of others discovering, I have adopted a relatively concealed approach to the projects I care about. Although on the surface I do not directly intervene and manipulate the review work, but I have passed the review committee many times. The director and some judges communicate with each other individually, or use the opportunity of arranging company visits to express personal preference opinions to influence the results of the review."
Jin Yongshou confessed that more than 80% of the bribes he received were from so-called "good friends" around him.
"I dared not keep the money at home, nor did I dare to consume it. Most of it was lent to friends. Because I was afraid that my spouse would know about collecting money. She had high demands on herself and me, and was extremely disgusted with uncorrupted behavior. "Shou Jin Yong said.
"Eastern Jincheng's series of corruption cases have exposed some of the characteristics of corruption in the credit rating field." A related comrade of the Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Group of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission introduced: "The first is to charge fees and credit rating. Credit level trading is An important form of rent-seeking in the credit rating industry is to use higher credit ratings as a bargaining chip to receive benefits from the rated company. The second is collusion of interests and crimes committed by “acquaintances”. The corruption problem is difficult to solve by one person, and it requires personnel from rating agencies, rated companies and Bond underwriters and other stakeholder joint cooperation cases. Rating agencies often need leaders, reviewers, operators, and market personnel to get their hands on them. Therefore, it is easy to form a series of cases. The third is a wide range of people and overlapping cases. It needs to be formed. Only by working together can the case be cleared."
The grassroots party building is in vain, no party branch has been established in 13 branches, and party members have not participated in organizational life for a long time
A person involved in the Oriental Jincheng series of corruption cases said in his confession that as a financial executive, he has a tendency to "put himself as a'qualification' and an'expert', focusing on technology rather than ideas, and experience rather than learning."
Insufficient theoretical study and failure to reform their thinking in time are the important reasons why Jin Yongshou, Cui Runhai and others stumbled upon temptation.
Jin Yongshou wrote in the confession--
"After I graduated from my Ph.D., I took up a job, worked in a foreign company for 4 years, and worked in Dagong International for 14 years. During these 18 years, I remembered that I was a member of the Communist Party when I paid my party dues, and I completely forgot my identity as a Party member at other times."
"After I arrived at Oriental Jincheng, as a member of the company’s party committee, I participated in activities such as'Three Meetings and One Lesson'. I obviously had a situation where I was serious at the beginning and then became a mere formality. When I read books and listened to classes, I didn’t really understand many aspects. , Into the brain into the heart. In the study summary and experience writing, instead of investigating the problems in combination with oneself and the post, but more copying online materials, the whole mandarin phrase. In normal work, there is obviously a tendency to emphasize business and neglect party building. The two responsibilities of one post are not fulfilled in place, and the monthly management meeting is only talking about business and not party building."
The "master switch" of ideals and beliefs falls into disrepair all the year round, and thinking will gradually become vulgar.
As Jin Yongshou said: "Although I also have the ideal of revitalizing the national rating industry, this ideal and aspiration has never been combined with my ideals and beliefs as a party member and my original mission as a party member. I think more about pursuing personal fame and wealth. This ideal Aspirations must be fragile and cannot stand the test of interest."
This exposed the problems of Dongfang Jincheng's comprehensive and strict governance of the party's main responsibility and the inadequate implementation of supervision responsibilities.
In Dongfang Jincheng, the grassroots party building work is in vain. No party branch has been established in 13 branch companies. The organization relationship of grassroots party members is hung in the company headquarters, branch members are scattered, and party members do not participate in organizational life for a long time.
As a member of the company's headquarters, Jin Yongshou has not strict requirements, and "one post with two responsibilities" is impossible to talk about; Cui Runhai is the head of the branch, but the organization relationship is in the second party branch of the headquarters, and he has been away from the organization, education and supervision for a long time. outer.
Promote the correction of regulatory loopholes and system shortcomings in the credit rating field
The organization is responsible for individual problems.
After the incident, the party committee of China Oriental Company adjusted the party committee of Oriental Jincheng.
On June 23, 2020, the responsible comrades of the Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Group of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission went to Oriental Jincheng Company to hold a symposium with all the company’s senior executives to preach the central government’s policy on investigating and handling financial corruption, and to guide the party committee, The Commission for Discipline Inspection carried out a centralized rectification of the party building, internal management, risk prevention and control, and home ownership of Oriental Jincheng.
On June 24, 2020, China Eastern held the 2020 Warning Education Conference and the first "Corrupt Oriental Day" event.
According to the analysis of relevant comrades of the Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Group of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, credit rating is a predictive service. The adjustment of grades is often determined by humans, and there are certain subjective judgments. Therefore, enterprises and bond underwriters are willing to public relations rating agencies, and some Practitioners of rating agencies also dare to take risks and trade levels.
In response to this problem, Oriental Jincheng established a team marketing mechanism for market personnel, requiring two or more market personnel to participate in the project contracting process, and the unit or team leader to intervene in customer management to avoid problems such as private licensing of levels by market personnel to customers; Customer return visit mechanism to conduct spot checks on level adjustments, refunds, and risk items to check whether there are integrity problems.
The company also explored the establishment of an external review expert database, re-evaluated the rating results of items such as rating adjustments and defaults, and used big data technology to build an intelligent rating system, etc., and took multiple measures to weaken the subjective impact of ratings and reduce the rent-seeking space of ratings.
The domestic credit rating industry started late, and there are shortcomings such as the lack of independence of the review committee, the failure to implement a non-controlling equity structure, and the emphasis on performance over management. Some rating agencies even have the problem of "individuals have the final say".
Focusing on improving the standardization of the credit rating industry, Oriental Jincheng deepens corporate governance, upgrades business models, optimizes personnel management, strengthens qualification control, standardizes professional ethics, establishes and completes punishment and banning mechanisms for breaching personnel, and reshapes credit ratings Industry culture.
The Eastern Jincheng series of corruption cases not only reflect the problems of individual party members and cadres, but also expose loopholes in corporate supervision and management.
For example, emphasis on recruitment and neglect of management; emphasis on business knowledge training and neglect of clean financial education; lack of effective and effective supervision of key and key positions.
After the incident, Oriental Jincheng established and improved the responsibility implementation system and mechanism, selected and assigned strong discipline inspection and supervision forces, prevented and controlled the integrity risks of key personnel in key positions, and did a good job in the investigation and handling of the "second half of the article".
"Our commission for the discipline inspection of a state-controlled rating agency must be based on reality, focus on supervision and reminders, on system construction, on the implementation of the spirit of the eight central regulations, and pay close attention to the members of the review committee and the market. Marketing personnel and other key personnel find small cuts that meet the actual staffing configuration and do a good job matching the ability and strength." Fu Yanfeng, secretary of the Oriental Jincheng Disciplinary Committee, told reporters.
"From the beginning of the investigation and handling of the case, we have integrated the'three nos' into the concept of case handling, thoroughly analyzed the reasons for the case, focused on prominent problems, insisted on investigation and correction, and realized the same direction, synchronization and progress of punishment and punishment." The relevant comrades of the Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Group of the State Supervision Commission of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission stated: "Although the case of Jin Yongshou and Cui Runhai has occurred, the development achievements of Oriental Jincheng in recent years and the achievements of the entire team and the entire company cannot be obliterated. Shi and Cui Runhai cannot represent the entire Dongfang Jincheng. The sooner these problems are exposed, the sooner they are cleaned up, the more it will enable Dongfang Jincheng to move forward lightly."
Deepen the anti-corruption work in the financial sector, and promote perfect development while investigating and reforming
"The credit rating industry is an important financial infrastructure area of the country. Although the scale of the industry is small, it is related to the prevention and control of financial risks and the stable development of the industry. The foundation of finance is credit, and credit rating is the credit of credit. Doing a good job of party conduct in the field of credit rating Integrity construction and anti-corruption work play a very important role in deepening financial anti-corruption." The responsible comrade of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission told reporters.
In the process of investigation and handling of cases, the discipline inspection and supervision organs pay attention to finding system loopholes and regulatory gaps in the supervision work, sort out and analyze the problems existing in the domestic credit rating industry, and promote perfect development while investigating and reforming.
The Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Team of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, under the direct leadership of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the full support of the Party Committee of the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, coordinated and coordinated actions with relevant units' disciplinary inspection and supervision teams, public security departments, and local commissions for inspections The strong synergy of the cases will work together to investigate and handle a series of corruption cases in the credit rating field and maintain the stability of the domestic credit rating market.
At present, the scale of China's credit bond market and the scale of the credit rating market are both the world's second largest.
Domestic licensed credit rating agencies mainly include Dagong International, Oriental Jincheng, China Credit, United Credit, New Century, and Pengyuan. They have more than 15 years of development history and have considerable business volume.
In May 2020, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Accelerating the Improvement of the Socialist Market Economic System in the New Era" pointed out: "Improve the credit reporting system covering the entire society and cultivate credit reporting agencies and credit rating agencies with global voice."
In order to improve industry concentration and competitiveness, industry professionals suggest to increase support for state-owned rating agencies, expand and strengthen two or three domestic rating agencies through mergers and reorganizations, and promote state-owned rating agencies to enhance their strength and international reputation, and serve the national economy development strategy.
At present, in addition to the China Interbank Market Dealers Association, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which can directly manage the rating market, the Ministry of Finance, Development and Reform Commission, People's Bank of China, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and other departments have more or less Management power, there is a phenomenon of different regulatory thinking methods and standards, regulatory gaps and repeated supervision.
The industry believes that in view of the current unclear division of supervisory responsibilities, inconsistent supervisory standards between departments, and non-standard industry operations, it is necessary to strengthen the top-level supervisory design, build a "firewall", explore the implementation of centralized and unified supervision, and strictly permit and prohibit entry. And exit standards, while exerting industry self-discipline pressure to help the high-quality development of the credit rating industry.
(Our reporter Wu Jing Han Yadong)