China’s second-largest bank is investigating customer complaints about an investment product that has suffered steep losses, the latest in a string of scandals to hit a fast-expanding segment of the country’s financial sector.
China Construction Bank, the country’s second-biggest lender by assets, is the third institution this month to report problems related to investment products that have surged in popularity as higher-yielding alternatives to regular bank deposits.
Although each of the cases has been small in isolation, analysts warn that they point to deeper risks in the Chinese financial sector as banks compete more aggressively and market forces erode decade-long controls on interest rates.