A bleak month for the banks

Suspicions that another Chinese banking scandal was about to break first emerged on May 29 when Liu Jinbao, head of the Bank of China (Hong Kong), was suddenly recalled to Beijing by his bosses. The Bank of China at first insisted that it was just a routine relocation.

But it couldn’t deny that the timing was bizarre. Liu was asked to leave his office one day before the bank’s first annual shareholder meeting since being listed last July.