19 October, 2006. HURUN REPORT RELEASES FINANCE RICH LIST, A PART OF THE 2006 CHINA RICH LIST SERIES

• PING’AN INSURANCE AND MINSHENG BANK DOMINATE WITH NINE OF TEN RICHEST FINANCE TYCOONS
• 25 INDIVIDUALS MAKE US$35 MILLION OR MORE FROM THE FINANCIAL SECTOR
• HIGH BARRIERS TO ENTRY

Nine of the ten richest finance tycoons made their money from either Ping’An or Minsheng Bank, both listed companies. A few select individuals have been allowed to buy into some of the city commercial banks, such as Lu Guanqiu in Zhejiang Commercial Bank, Wang Wenjing in Beijing Bank, Yin Minshan in Chongqing Commercial Bank and Xu Wanmao in Ningbo Commercial Bank. “The barriers to entry for the finance sector remain very high,” says Rupert Hoogewerf, CEO of Hurun Report, a luxury business magazine. “Only the who’s who of China business are being invited to invest into the banks. The stories of these finance tycoons tell the story of China’s finance boom.”

The finance sector this year is especially hot on the back of the recent overseas listings of Bank of China and China Merchants Bank, as well as strong interest from many of the international banks in taking a share of other not yet listed banks.

Ping’An continues to thrive despite secrecy surrounding its ownership
Nothing is known about the seven shareholders of Ping’An Insurance that make our list, despite the fact that between them they control stock worth US$2.4 billion equivalent to 12% of the group. Furthermore the names of the shareholders keeps changing. In the first year after its listing, the key shareholder was Zheng Jianyuan, who changed last year to Liu Fang, this year replaced by Li Zhaonan and Zhu Bingyang.

The secrecy behind its shareholders does not seem to impact its performance. Ping’An stock has risen by 70% in the year to 30 June. Today it has a market cap of US$21 billion on the back of aggressive expansion into other sectors of the financial industry, most recently a bank.

Minsheng Bank looking for listing in Hong Kong
Minsheng Bank already has a listing on the Shanghai exchange but is currently pushing for a Hong Kong listing. Its stock on Shanghai has risen by 104% in the twelve months ending June 30. There are five shareholders on our list who control 20% of the bank, led by Liu Yonghao

Interesting finance tycoons

• Calvin Zhang Kaiyong has built Credit Orienwise into China’s leading credit guarantee player, with the help of international funds from the IFC, Carlyle Group and Citigroup. Credit Orienwise has done US$3 billion of business to date.
  
• 26-year old Li Zhaohui is the most recent significant shareholder in Minsheng Bank.
  
• Zhang Hongwei, who at one stage was vying with Liu Yonghao to become the largest shareholder of Minsheng Bank, has maintained a strong interest in the financial sector, predominantly with his shareholding today in Haitong Securities.
  
• Xu Ming continues to invest into the financial sector with interests today in a local commercial bank and an insurance company.
  
• Thomas Ou Yaping is a former director of China Merchants Bank, but has since sold his holdings reported to have been 2.2%.
  
• ING has recently invested US$2.2 billion for 19.9% of the Bank of Beijing.
  
• Zhang Gaobo and Zhang Zhiping have built one of China’s most successful investment banks, helping companies to market.

Biggest losers
Last year Zhang Rongkun was on the Finance Rich List for his investment into China Property & Casualty Reinsurance Company, but this summer was detained after a Shanghai pensions scandal.

Others that have invested into commercial banks but have since been arrested include Zhou Zhengyi (Fujian Commercial Bank) and Tang Wanxin (Kunming Commercial Bank).

Some interesting stats

Beijing boasts the highest number of China’s top 25 finance tycoons with nine individuals, followed by Guangdong with four.

Average wealth of the top twenty five finance tycoons is US$180 million, a 29 per cent rise on last year. As a group, the top 25 have US$4.4 billion, of which half is with Ping’An.

2006 is the second year of the Finance Rich List.

Methodology
The Finance Rich List is a sublist of the Hurun Report 2006 China Rich List series and only takes into account wealth generated from the financial sector. In the case of Liu Yonghao, for example, Hurun Report only included his Minsheng Bank assets, excluding his non-finance assets (primarily his feed business), when calculating his wealth for the purpose of the Finance Rich List.

Valuing the wealth of China’s Rich is as much an art as it is a science. Our team of researchers has - for the eighth year running - traveled the length and breadth of the country cross-checking information with entrepreneurs, industry experts, journalists, bankers, and regulators, as well as previous years’ databases. The cut-off date for valuation of listed companies was August 31, 2006. For non-listed companies we valued by comparing them with their listed equivalents using prevailing industry P/E ratios. This list relates to Mainland China only. For the purposes of this list, we define Mainland Chinese as someone who was born and brought up in China, no matter what passport they might hold today.

learn more on FINANCE RICH LIST