SHANGHAI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Haitong Securities Co Ltd , currently under investigation by China’s stock watchdog, will tighten controls over risks and carry out strict checks on its clients, official media cited on Wednesday the brokerage’s chairman as saying. Reuters reported last week Haitong was being probed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for alleged violations of securities regulations. The brokerage later confirmed the investigation. Haitong Chairman Wang Kaiguo told a financial conference that the company was carrying out reforms in line with CSRC regulations, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday. Haitong declined to give an immediate comment when contacted by phone. The investigation into Haitong, China’s fourth-largest brokerage by market capitalisation, comes on the heels of probes into CITIC Securities and Guosen Securities , two of Haitong’s bigger rivals. The probe slammed China’s stock markets last week, helping drag them down over 5 percent on Friday in the biggest drop since a stock market crash in the summer. In September, Haitong was fined 86 million yuan ($13.44 million) by the regulator for breaching securities rules. After a stock market crash in mid-June, Beijing launched a crackdown on insider trading and short-selling, which it said were partly to blame for volatility in the market. ($1 = 6.3985 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Haitong Securities' Chairman, Wang Kaiguo, has revealed in a press conference that the company is undertaking reforms and will tighten controls over risks. As we noted last week, Haitong is currently being investigated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) over allegations of violations of securities regulations; CITIC Securities and Guosen Securities, Haitong's biggest rivals, are also under investigation.