Wells Fargo employee barred from leaving China, prompting travel freeze
The employee, Chenyue Mao, a U.S. citizen and managing director at Wells Fargo, was prohibited from leaving after traveling to China on business in recent weeks, the report said.
Wells Fargo confirmed the travel suspension and said it is working to secure Mao's return.
'We are closely tracking this situation and working through the appropriate channels so our employee can return to the United States as soon as possible,' the bank, which is headquartered in San Francisco, said in a statement to the Chronicle.
Mao, who was born in Shanghai and is based in Atlanta, leads Wells Fargo's international factoring business and frequently works with Chinese firms in the trade finance sector, according to the WSJ report.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy told the New York Post that it was unaware of Mao's case.
'As principle, China always welcomes foreign citizens, including those of the United States, to come to China and guarantees their safety and legitimate rights and interests in China in accordance with the law, including freedom of entry and exit,' Liu Pengyu said. 'Meanwhile, foreign citizens in China should also respect and abide by Chinese laws.'
In 2023, Charles Wang Zhonghe, a senior executive at Japanese-based financial services firm Nomura, was similarly barred from leaving China for nearly a year for an unspecified reason.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
9 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Famed market bear Albert Edwards warns of an 'everything bubble' in US stocks and home prices that could soon pop
Société Générale's Albert Edwards, famed for calling the dot-com bubble leading up to the 2000 crash, is again warning investors of a potentially painful plunge ahead. In his latest note to clients this week, Edwards said US stocks and home prices are in an "everything bubble" that he thinks could soon pop. Stock valuations are indeed steep. The Shiller cyclically-adjusted price-to-earnings ratio sits at 38, one of its highest levels ever, and both the trailing and forward 12-month PE ratios of the S&P 500 are historically high. To Edwards, this doesn't sit well with the fact that long-term interest rates have been on the rise. Rising long-end government bond yields tend to weigh on stock-market valuations as investors can find attractive returns without taking on the high level of risk in the stock market. Yet US stocks have seen a robust rally in recent years, gaining 78% since October 2022 lows. The market's high valuations have kept future estimated equity-market yields low. When stocks are more cheaply valued, they can expect higher future returns, and vice versa. "It is notable how the US equity market has been able to sustain nose-bleed high valuations despite longer bond yields grinding higher," Edwards wrote. "I don't expect it'll be able to ignore it much longer." On housing, Edwards said that the home price-to-income ratio in the US has been virtually flat over the last few years following the pandemic bump, while the ratio has dropped in countries like the UK and France. "The US is the only market in which house price/income ratios have NOT de-rated since 2022 as bond yields have risen. Is the US housing market also exceptional relative to Europe? No, it's nonsense and, in time, investors will come to claim they knew that all along," Edwards wrote. As for what could cause the potential bubbles in US stocks and home prices to burst, Edwards said to watch Japan. "In the wake of the ruling party coalition losing its Upper House majority, concerns in the bond market about the risks of further fiscal easing and high inflation are growing," he wrote. Higher inflation in Japan could mean higher interest rates and a further unwinding of the Japanese yen carry trade, in which foreign investors borrowed cheaply in yen and converted to dollars to buy higher-yielding US assets. In 2024, the Bank of Japan unexpectedly hiked rates, roiling global markets as investors liquidated assets they had bought with borrowed yen. In May, Edwards warned rising interest rates in Japan could cause a " global financial Armageddon." Edwards publishes his notes, which regularly express a bearish outlook, under Société Générale's "alternative view," separate from the bank's house view. "A lot of clients who totally disagree with me like to read my stuff," he told Business Insider in May. "It's a reality check."
Business Insider
9 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Real estate tycoon Jeff Greene talks about the 'tough balancing act' of raising kids as a billionaire
Warren Buffett advises wealthy parents to "leave their children enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing." "That's a very tough balancing act," Jeff Greene, a billionaire real estate developer with three adolescent sons, told Business Insider. In a wide-ranging interview, he spoke about his parenting philosophy, path to success, and work-life balance. Greene, 70, said that people who've "accumulated enormous wealth" don't want their children to struggle, but that doesn't mean they're entitled to a jet-set lifestyle. "If my kid wants to have a private jet, or a yacht, or a big mansion, and live the way I live, they're going to have to figure it out on their own," he said. The Florida-based property tycoon, whose net worth is $7.9 billion according to Forbes, said the children of uber-rich parents have big advantages, like elite education and coaching. But it can also mean their achievements have asterisks, with questions of whether they got into a school or landed a job because of their wealth and connections, he said. "I started with nothing, I did it all on my own," Greene said, adding that he takes great pride in being self-made. "I've taken that away from them," he said of his children. Greene hopes that his kids have "meaningful lives." The investor, who made a fortune shorting the mid-2000s housing bubble with the help of hedge fund legend John Paulson, told BI he wants to teach his children that making money is a fraction as rewarding as helping others. "You can only eat so much food, you can only sleep in one bed a night, you can only drive so many cars," he said. "There's no limit as to how big a difference you can make in people's lives." Greene said he's eager for his sons to experience the "pleasure" and "thrill" that he and their mother, Mei-Sze Greene, garner from "seeing other people's lives get better." In 2010, the pair signed The Giving Pledge, committing to donate most of their wealth to charitable causes. In 2016, they founded The Greene School in Palm Beach, a nonprofit private school with a need-blind admission policy that offers financial aid to students. Starting from scratch Greene grew up middle class in Massachusetts and moved to Florida as a teenager after his father lost his textile business. "I was kind of on my own for going to a very expensive college," he said. Greene attended Johns Hopkins by cobbling together money from student loans, scholarships, and part-time jobs, including busing and waiting tables at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, teaching Hebrew at a religious school, and checking IDs outside a gym. While Greene was able to save up the few thousand dollars he needed that way, he added that "it's tough for kids today" who can't expect to pay their way when tuition can be upward of $100,000. Greene financed his Harvard Business School MBA by selling circus tickets, initially over the phone and then as a promoter who spent nearly three years on the road. "I saved $100,000 in two and a half years by working my ass off," he said about the startup capital for his real estate empire, which has grown to thousands of residential and commercial properties in Florida, Los Angeles, and New York. Work and play Asked what keeps him up at night, Greene said he "sleeps pretty well." "I wake every morning and try to think of three things that I'm grateful for," he said, rather than dwelling on the "aggravating challenges" that crop up during construction projects. Greene also invoked "Karate Kid" character Mr. Miyagi's lesson that balance is key. "I live a balanced life," Greene said, adding that he works 50 or 60 hours a week, plays tennis five days a week, goes on trips with friends, and takes his kids to school daily. If he'd been more aggressive, taken on more leverage, worked harder, and hired more people, Greene said, "My net worth could have been at least five times what it is." But that approach would have been "stressful" with "no purpose to it," he added. "If you have balance in your life, you'll probably sleep better," he said. Greene also dismissed the idea of calling it quits. "What would I retire to do?" he asked. He could "join a country club and just play golf and bridge and pickleball," he said, but added he preferred the challenge of "trying to win at the stuff I do."
Business Insider
37 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Chinese firm seals $100 million grain deal in Angola, second agriculture investment this week
China's Sinohydro Group will invest more than $100 million in Angola to develop new sources of grain. Sinohydro Group is set to invest over $100 million in Angola for grain development. Angola granted a tax-free 25-year land concession of 30,000 hectares to Sinohydro. The project aims to improve agricultural infrastructure using existing equipment. China's Sinohydro Group will invest more than $100 million in Angola to develop new sources of grain, marking the second major agricultural agreement between the two countries in less than a week. Under a deal signed late Thursday in Luanda, Angola granted Sinohydro a 25-year, tax-free land concession covering 30,000 hectares across six eastern provinces, Bloomberg reported. The Chinese engineering and infrastructure giant will utilise equipment already available in the country to expedite the rollout of logistics and agricultural support infrastructure. 'Angola has vast land but lacks basic infrastructure,' said Li Xunfeng, Sinohydro's Managing Director, at the signing ceremony. 'This is the right time to invest; the environment here is better than in many African countries.' The announcement follows a $250 million investment revealed earlier this week by a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned conglomerate Citic Ltd., which plans to develop large-scale soybean and corn farms in Angola. Sinohydro, which has been operating in Angola for over two decades, stated that the new project aligns with the Angolan government's initiative to revive large-scale farming and reduce its reliance on food imports. 60% of output bound for China According to Agriculture Minister Isaac dos Anjos, about 60% of the produce, mainly soybeans, will be exported to China, while the remainder will support domestic consumption. The concession will be divided into plots ranging from 500 to 1,000 hectares to accommodate both commercial farms and community-led initiatives. Sinohydro also plans to establish a seed research and testing centre to improve yields and attract more Chinese agribusinesses to the country.
