Wanda Group, Fosun Int'l Among Companies Being Investigated By CBRC

China’s banking regulator "ordered the country's commercial banks to investigate loans made to a group of companies that have aggressively invested overseas in recent years," people with knowledge of the matter said, according to Wei, Ma & Areddy of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The companies in question include Anbang Insurance Group, HNA Group, Fosun Int'l Ltd. and Wanda Group, the sources said, "referring to a list issued to banks by the China Banking Regulatory Commission." One source said, "The goal of the examination is to examine those companies' leverage situations and risks." CBRC official Liu Zhiqing "declined to comment on the reported order to the banks," but said that "big companies are naturally a focus of the regulator when it comes to systemic risk." The share prices of some of the companies "started to drop precipitously on Thursday after some of the banks started selling down bonds tied to the firms following the directive on internal checks" (WSJ, 6/22).