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Recently, the topic of "Sunshine Private Equity's 1.252 billion yuan in deposits lost" has sparked heated discussion.

It is reported that on June 26, according to the "Account Balance Detail Sheet" provided by two branches of Chang'an Bank, the fund special account agreement deposits of three private equity products under Youce Investment (Zhejiang Youce Investment Management Co., Ltd.) totaled more than 1.2 billion yuan. But on July 3, some investors found that the account flow certificate printed by Chang'an Bank showed that the above agreement deposits were only 86,000 yuan.

Regarding the "disappearance" of more than 1 billion yuan of funds, some media reported that Youce Investment has sent a lawyer's letter to Chang'an Bank, pointing out that the above-mentioned private equity account violated the agreement to open an online banking account, resulting in the funds being transferred out.

Chang'an Bank's customer service responded to reporters that the online banking was opened in accordance with the supplementary agreement signed by both parties. The statement of Youce Investment was misleading and a report has been filed. The fund deposits of Youce Investment were deducted and Chang'an Bank had no responsibilities as a fund custodian.

More than 1.2 billion in deposits “disappeared”?

Recently, a whistleblower claimed that starting from February 19, 2019, some investors purchased three sunshine private equity fund products of Youce Investment, namely "Youce Yueyueying", "Youce Changshi" and "Youce Changxiu". From April 2019 to May 2023, Youce Investment signed an "Agreement Deposit Contract" with Chang'an Bank to deposit the raised funds of the above three products into the private equity fund special accounts of Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch and Chang'an Bank Baoji Technology Branch.

According to the "Agreement Deposit Contract", Chang'an Bank provides Youce Investment with an "Account Balance Statement" on the interest payment date each month. The whistleblower said that on July 3, investors found that the "Account Balance Statement" had not been published as scheduled, and the account statement printed by Chang'an Bank showed that only 86,000 yuan was left in the agreement deposit.

What is surprising is that according to the materials provided by the whistleblower, on June 26, the "Account Balance Statement" printed by Chang'an Bank Baoji Technology Branch and Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch showed that the principal of the fund accounts of the above three products still exceeded 1.2 billion yuan.

The financial report shows that the risk-return characteristics of the three listed private equity products are R2 (stable). What investors did not expect was that this was originally a stable investment, but in the end even the principal was "missing".

Private equity accuses bank of breach of contract, causing money to be withdrawn due to online banking
The bank said that it opened online banking in compliance with the supplementary agreement between the two parties.

The more than one billion deposits in the account were almost wiped out, so where did the deposits go?

According to bank account credentials obtained by the media, in addition to transferring funds to the fund investment account, the fund accounts of the above three products also transferred funds to three external companies, namely: Baoji Fenghuangling Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd., Xi'an Changrong Investment Management Co., Ltd. and Baoji Yuanda Asset Management Co., Ltd.

On July 10, Youce Investment issued an announcement on major matters regarding the operation of some funds, suspending the subscription and redemption business of multiple funds including the above-mentioned three funds. At the same time, it mentioned that it will liaise with the public security organs and the head office of Chang'an Bank.

According to reports, Youce Investment has commissioned a lawyer to send a lawyer's letter to Chang'an Bank. The total deposit amount of the above three fund products in Chang'an Bank as counted in the lawyer's letter is 1.32 billion yuan.

How did more than one billion yuan of funds get transferred away?

In the lawyer's letter, Youce Investment mentioned that the above-mentioned private equity account violated regulations in opening online banking, resulting in the transfer of funds in the fund's exclusive agreement deposit account.

It is said that the agreement deposit contract signed between Chang'an Bank's Baoji Jinling Branch and Youce Investment stipulated that the principal and interest paid by Chang'an Bank to Youce Investment must be transferred to the designated account of Youce Investment and must not be transferred to other accounts; in addition, in accordance with fund supervision requirements, Youce Investment will not open online banking and will not use this deposit for any financial business.

Did Chang'an Bank open an online banking service for the above fund account? Did it violate the deposit agreement with Youce Investment?

Chang'an Bank's customer service told reporters that after Youce Investment opened an account at Chang'an Bank, Chang'an Bank opened online banking for all of Youce Investment's above-mentioned fund accounts in accordance with the supplementary agreement and application between Youce Investment and Chang'an Bank. Youce Investment can check the transaction details and account balance of the bank account at any time through online banking, and there is no such thing as being unaware of the balance of the fund account. Youce Investment's statement is misleading to investors. Chang'an Bank has sent a lawyer's letter to Youce Investment and reported the case to the public security organs to protect its rights.

Regarding the withdrawal of deposits, the customer service staff told reporters that the account opened by Youce Investment at Chang'an Bank was not a custodial account for securities investment funds, and Chang'an Bank had no fund custodian duties. It is understood that the Securities Investment Fund Law stipulates that fund custodians should perform duties such as safekeeping of fund assets.

But regarding the transfer of deposits to other accounts, did Chang'an Bank violate the contractual clauses that it had initially signed with Youce Investment, such as "the principal and interest shall not be transferred to other accounts"? Chang'an Bank's customer service said that they were not aware of the previous deposit contract agreement between the two parties.

The reporter further asked, if the account has opened online banking, does the transfer of funds to other parties not require bank review? Another customer service staff of Chang'an Bank said that if the regular corporate account of Chang'an Bank withdraws funds through online banking and reaches a certain amount, it must be reviewed by the bank.

Source | Southern Metropolis Daily