Exclusive: Ex-Chief of China Merchants Bank Profited on CATL Investments

The corruption investigation of Tian Huiyu, a former president of China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. (CMB), is most likely focused on misconduct over the bank’s asset management business and early investment in battery giant CATL, Caixin learned.

While details of the alleged misconduct and the amount of the former executive’s illegal gains are unclear, multiple sources say he made a killing on hidden personal stakes in the bank’s early backing of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), the world's largest producer of lithium-ion batteries. As bank president, Tian backed CMB’s pre-IPO investments in the company.