US probe wider on Wall Street firms' China hiring practices

Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are among five Wall Street firms in addition to JPMorgan Chase whose hiring practices in China are being probed by regulators in the United States, it was reported yesterday.

Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group are also facing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations, which are at an early stage, said, citing interviews with people briefed on the matter.

JPMorgan recently gave authorities spreadsheets and e-mails detailing the firm's Sons and Daughters hiring programme, according to the newspaper.

US authorities are examining whether JPMorgan violated anti-bribery laws by hiring the children and other relatives of well-connected politicians and clients in China in exchange for having business steered to the firm, a person with knowledge of the investigation said in August.

A probe of JPMorgan had reportedly uncovered an internal spreadsheet that linked appointments to specific deals.

A senior JPMorgan executive in Hong Kong wrote that the hiring programme had an almost direct correlation with winning deals to advise Chinese companies, the reported, citing one of the e-mails it said were obtained by US authorities.

The executive wrote that the father of a job candidate was chairman of China Everbright Group, a state-controlled financial firm, according to the newspaper.