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NetEase Finance, August 20Chang'an Bank issued a statement today saying that after verification, the relevant media reports that "1.252 billion yuan in deposits were lost" were seriously untrue. The documents, seals, and amounts used in the "Account Balance Statement" were all forged and altered. The bank has reported the case to the public security organs, and the police have accepted the case for investigation. At the same time, the bank has sent a lawyer's letter to the relevant media and notarized evidence preservation for the relevant forwarding and reprinting. The bank reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility for false statements.

Earlier reports:

1.252 billion yuan in deposits lost! The trustee: Violation of the deposit agreement Chang'an Bank: We are also wronged

The annual report disclosed that the deposits in Chang'an Bank were 1.252 billion yuan, but by June this year, the balance of the bank deposit account was only 86,000 yuan, and almost all of the huge amount of funds had been transferred away.Sunshine Private Equity FundThe legal representative, custodian broker and holders of Youce Investment all claimed to be unaware of the situation.

How could such a huge amount of money in a bank be lost inexplicably? Who should be held responsible for this? A reporter from the National Business Daily (hereinafter referred to as the reporter from the National Business Daily) launched an investigation into this matter.

Bank deposits flow to three companies

In July, Liu Qiang (pseudonym), a management member of Xiushi Investment (i.e. Xiushi Enterprise Management Group Co., Ltd., historically known as "Xiushi Investment Management Group Co., Ltd."), broke the news to a reporter from China Business Network: "The private equity fund invested by our clients has lost the money deposited in the bank! This fund is a cash management fund with a low risk level (R2)."

Liu Qiang said that since February 19, 2019, some investors have purchased Youce Investment (Zhejiang Youce Investment Management Co., Ltd.) sunshine private equity fund products, including "Youce Yueyueying", "Youce Changshi" and "Youce Changxiu". Every reporter checked the 2023 annual report of the above products, and the fund product description showed that the risk-return characteristic is R2 (stable).

Youce Investment is a private equity fund registered with the Asset Management Association of China. From April 17, 2018 to March 29 this year, a total of 28 products were registered.

From April 2019 to May 2023, Youce Investment signed the "Agreement Deposit Contract" with Chang'an Bank, and deposited the funds raised from the three products "Youce Changshi", "Youce Changxiu" and "Youce Yueyueying No. 3" into the private equity fund accounts of Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch and Chang'an Bank Baoji Technology Branch.

Image source of the U-Cease Changshi Agreement Deposit Contract: provided by the informant

The two parties agreed that Youce Investment would deposit funds into the account in batches according to the fund raising situation, and Chang'an Bank would provide Youce Investment with the "Account Balance Statement" on the interest payment date of each month. The bank agreement deposits of the above three products are included in the commercial bank's periodic reports.Financial productsInvestment item.

A reporter from "Daily Economic News" counted the 2023 annual reports disclosed by the three products "Youce Changshi", "Youce Changxiu" and "Youce Yueyueying No. 3" and found that the total amount of bank agreement deposits reached 1.252 billion yuan.

On July 3 this year, investors discovered that the "Account Balance Statement" had not been published as scheduled, and the account statement printed by Chang'an Bank showed that the agreed deposit was only 86,000 yuan left.

From top to bottom: Youce Changshi, Youce Yueyueying No. 3, Youce Changxiu deposit account transaction details (partial screenshots), the total amount of the three accounts is 86,000 yuan. Image source: provided by the whistleblower

The whistleblower provided the reporter with several more vouchers, one of which was signed by Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch and printed on June 28 this year. It also showed that the balance of Youce Investment's two bank accounts totaled more than 80,000 yuan. In addition, an "Account Balance Detail Sheet" signed by Chang'an Bank Baoji Technology Branch and printed on June 26 showed that Youce Changxiu's special account still had nearly 740 million yuan in principal; two "Account Balance Detail Sheets" signed by Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch and printed on June 26 showed that Youce Changshi's special account had nearly 400 million yuan in principal, and Youce Yueyueying No. 3's special account had a principal of 178 million yuan.

The customer deposit account list printed on June 28 this year. Image source: provided by the whistleblower

The Account Balance Statement printed on June 26 this year. Image source: provided by the whistleblower

The more than 1 billion yuan in deposits in the account were almost wiped out.

On July 10, Youce Investment issued an announcement on major fund operations, suspending the subscription and redemption of the above funds, and mentioned that it would contact the public security authorities and the head office of Chang'an Bank. Immediately, Youce Investment entrusted a lawyer to send a lawyer's letter to Chang'an Bank, and the total amount of deposits counted in the lawyer's letter was 1.32 billion yuan.

Image source: provided by the whistleblower

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

Liu Qiang provided the reporter with an agreement deposit contract with the seal of Youce Investment, which mentioned that the "Youce Changshi" fund shall not be transferred to other accounts and online banking shall not be opened.

However, the bank account transaction vouchers obtained by the reporter showed that from March 2019 to June 21, 2024, a total of 6.16 billion yuan was transferred from the fund investment account to the deposit account, and a total of 5.167 billion yuan was transferred from the deposit account to the fund investment account, with a difference of 993 million yuan.

So, who took the 993 million yuan that should have belonged to the holders of Youce Investment Fund?

The reporter found that in addition to transferring money to the fund investment account, the three deposit accounts also transferred money 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.

Youce Investment deposited 1.252 billion yuan in three funds in Chang'an Bank, but only 86,000 yuan remained by June this year

Every month since March 2019, funds from the fund investment account to the deposit account have been transferred every four days or every week. In most cases, the funds are transferred to the three companies on the same day as the deposit account arrives.

The agreement deposit contract stipulates that "online banking will not be opened"

Since 2019, for as long as five years, the bank account deposits of private equity funds have been transferred to three external companies. As the custodians of Youce Investment's private equity products, were Industrial Securities and Haitong Securities aware of this?

On August 13, a reporter from China Business News learned from an insider of Industrial Bank Securities that no abnormalities were found. "Every Wednesday, there is a 'Deposit Account Balance Statement' showing the principal and interest, with the business seal of Chang'an Bank, and everything is normal."

The reporter noticed that in the Youce Changshi Fund Agreement Deposit Contract provided by Liu Qiang, Party A is Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch, and Party B is Youce Investment. Article 9 "Special Terms for Fund Security" clearly states: "The principal and interest paid by Party A to Party B must be transferred to Party B's designated account as agreed in this contract and may not be transferred to other accounts" and "According to fund supervision requirements, Party B will not open online banking and will not use this deposit for any financial business."

Screenshot of the agreement deposit contract Source: provided by the whistleblower

The agreement deposit contract stipulates that when opening a special bank account under this contract, a "Reserved Seal Authorization Letter" containing the reserved seal of the corresponding fund custodian institution should be prepared. The reserved seal in the authorization letter is the only authorized seal for external transfers from the special bank account opened under this contract, and the reserved seal cannot be changed. The contract shows that the seal includes the business-specific seals of Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch, Youce Investment, and Industrial Securities Asset Custody Department.

Screenshot of the agreement deposit contract Source: provided by the whistleblower

"When making the deposit agreement, we also paid full attention to the security clauses, such as the fund return account is also the only custodial account, and the funds cannot be used for online banking. These are clearly written in black and white in the agreement. However, these clauses have not been effectively implemented." The above-mentioned insider of Industrial Securities said. As for why the abnormal outflow of funds occurred later, the insider revealed that Chang'an Bank responded to the custodial brokerage firm that it had signed a supplementary agreement with Youce Investment and opened online banking based on it, but he did not see the supplementary agreement, "I don't even know who signed the fund manager."

The above-mentioned insider of Industrial Securities said that Youce Investment, as a fund manager, put the raised funds in a custody account and transferred the money to a bank deposit account when investing. He further mentioned that the deposit account does not belong to the control system of the custodian brokerage. At present, Industrial Securities has reported to the higher-level regulatory authorities.

On July 31, a reporter from Meijing interviewed another custodian brokerage, Haitong Securities, who said they had a confidentiality obligation for the product and could not disclose information to anyone other than investors. On August 14, after revealing their identity, the reporter from Meijing wanted to interview Industrial Securities, but the company refused to be interviewed.

Supplementary agreement "overturns" the main contract

Changan Bank: Youce Investment applied for online banking

On August 2 and 9, reporters from the China Business Network took the current deposit transaction details of products such as "Youce Changxiu" and "Youce Yueyueying No. 3" to the Chang'an Bank Head Office, Chang'an Bank Baoji Branch, and Chang'an Bank Baoji Science and Technology Branch to learn more about the situation. Chang'an Bank confirmed the authenticity of the above bank account flow vouchers.

A person related to Chang'an Bank stated that bank statement vouchers cannot be forged, "The bank's seal is automatically generated in the system and cannot be manipulated manually."

So, the above-mentioned "Account Balance Statement" signed by Chang'an Bank Baoji Technology Branch and Jinling Branch and printed on June 26th shows that the principal of Youce Changxiu special account is nearly 740 million yuan, the principal of Youce Changshi special account is nearly 400 million yuan, and the principal of Youce Yueyueying No. 3 special account is 178 million yuan. Why are the amounts seriously inconsistent with the total balance of 86,000 yuan in the three accounts shown in the bank statements?

"I remember that they seemed to have a photocopy (the above-mentioned 'Account Balance Statement')." According to the above-mentioned Chang'an Bank employee, "What they provided (the 'Account Balance Statement') was not consistent with the bank voucher. Do you think that thing was real or fake?"

As for why online banking was opened later despite the stipulation in the deposit agreement that online banking was not allowed, a person from the Baoji branch of Chang'an Bank said: "The online banking was opened by the enterprise. At that time, the enterprise signed a supplementary agreement with the bank to apply for online banking. We completely followed the enterprise's requirements."

When the reporter visited the Baoji Jinling Branch of Chang'an Bank as an investor, the staff there also made it clear that before an enterprise opens online banking, it must first have reserved seals, official seals, etc., and then the bank will go through the approval process to see if it complies with the procedures.

In addition, the reporter also learned that Chang'an Bank has a reconciliation system. "If the company does not check the previous month's statement before the 15th of each month, the account will not be usable." Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch staff revealed, "As a key customer, Youce Investment will receive a statement every month." In other words, according to the Jinling Branch staff, Youce Investment can accurately understand the real account balance.

Chang'an Bank's head office also told reporters that Youce Investment opened a deposit settlement account at Chang'an Bank, and customers were free to deposit and withdraw money, and Chang'an Bank did not have the qualifications of a fund custodian, so it did not have any supervisory functions. Later, Youce Investment applied to open a corporate online banking account, "so it can be operated directly on the mobile phone."

A person related to Chang'an Bank admitted: "Now no matter how many customers (investors) call, we will patiently explain to them because it is our obligation, but we are also wronged, and we in the service industry can't do anything about it."

On August 14, the reporter of the Daily Economic News called the Jinling Branch of Chang'an Bank again. The relevant person said that they had recorded the reporter's interview questions and reported them to the branch. The reporter also learned that Chang'an Bank has also submitted the relevant information to the judicial authorities.

Professionals: Supplementary agreements cannot oppose the main contract

The process of the loss of the deposit has surfaced. So, the question is, taking the agreement deposit contract of Youce Changshi Fund as an example, the agreement deposit contract stipulates that online banking is not allowed, and it is clear that the only authorized seals for external transfers include the business-specific seals of Chang'an Bank Baoji Jinling Branch, Youce Investment, and Industrial Securities Asset Custody Department. It is stipulated that the reserved seals cannot be changed. So under so many restrictive clauses in the deposit contract, can the private equity institution manager privately sign a supplementary agreement with Chang'an Bank to overturn the original deposit contract? How should the responsibilities of the three parties be divided?

In response to the above questions, the reporter of Meijing found a professional in the relevant business of a large state-owned bank, who has long-term experience in this field. He told the reporter of Meijing that the supplementary agreement is used to add to the main contract and cannot be independent of the main contract or even against the main contract.

"The main contract clearly states that funds cannot be transferred in order to regulate the use of the 1.3 billion yuan in funds. In practical terms, this means that the account is classified as a 'fund supervision' account. So when the bank transferred funds out after the contract was signed, it did not comply with the principle of special use of account funds, thus violating the original intention of the contract between Parties A and B." the person told reporters.

It is generally believed that a supplementary agreement is a supplementary explanation of matters that are not clearly stated in the main contract. If the supplementary agreement deviates from the content of the main contract or even contradicts the content of the main contract, there is no need for it to exist. "Looking closely at the contract, the main contract covers all the detailed requirements from fund transfer in to fund transfer out."

The person believes that if the supplementary agreement is to supplement the "withdrawal" related content, it must be carried out in accordance with the relevant terms of the main contract, or supplement the templates, content, special circumstances, etc. that have not yet been clarified, rather than signing a new contract to transfer the funds.

If the account opens online banking after the main contract is signed and funds are transferred out, it depends on whether the contact person who signed the contract and the relevant bank department fulfilled their obligation to inform the bank's front desk. If the bank's relevant back-end department does not fulfill its obligation to inform and the front desk handles the online banking according to the process, then the relevant department must bear the corresponding responsibility, "it depends on how to pursue this responsibility."

The above-mentioned interviewees believe that as long as the contract stipulates that the account cannot be transferred out at will, the bank cannot be exempted from the corresponding responsibility, and cannot transfer money even if it sees a check.

(Source: Daily Economic News)