Recently, veteran figure in the mainland public fund industry, Zhao Xuejun, was under investigation. He had just returned to China from the United States two months ago.
On August 9th, Jiashi Fund suddenly issued a temporary announcement stating that the former chairman, Zhao Xuejun, is “under investigation due to personal issues.”
The announcement from Jiashi Fund stated that the investigation involving Zhao Xuejun has nothing to do with the company’s fund business. Currently, Zhao Xuejun has resigned from the position of the company’s chairman, and the duties of the chairman are being carried out by the co-chairman, An Guoyong.
Regarding Zhao Xuejun’s investigation, there have been various discussions online in mainland China:
User SuperShort_Bull: “Another arrest, this time it’s a big shot in public funds. Zhao Xuejun, chairman of Jiashi Fund, got caught. Just a few days ago, Jiashi Fund’s Yao Zhipeng lost 14 billion in three years, while collecting 600 million in management fees. Now the chairman has been investigated. There have been too many irregularities in public funds in recent years, leading investors to lose confidence, and they have been voting with their feet. Eight funds have failed to raise money already this year! This is also why the A-share market is in such a dire state, with no new funds coming in! Top fund manager Zhang Kun has accumulated losses of 23.675 billion in the products he manages, but has received 4.558 billion in management fees. For someone like Zhao Xuejun, is it surprising to have made hundreds of billions illegally?”
User Practical_Bull_Sister: “Jiashi, a well-known leading public fund. Public funds participate in secondary market transactions, IPOs; they invest in the stock market and the currency market. Walking by the river often, where won’t the shoes get wet? The scale of public fund management is immense, and the temptation faced by senior executives is enormous.”
User Stock_Futures_998: “Jiashi Fund is one of the earliest established public funds in China, managing nearly 1.6 trillion yuan! The common people entrust their hard-earned money to fund management for financial planning, but have suffered significant losses. Now even the chairman has been arrested.”
According to a report by Caijing on August 10th, Zhao Xuejun attended a short-term program at Cornell University in the United States at the end of March 2024, which lasted for two months. In late April, the Audit Office entered Jiashi Fund and Yifangda Fund, requiring all senior executives to be on duty. Zhao Xuejun did not return immediately. In early June, rumors of Zhao Xuejun “fleeing” spread. Zhao Xuejun subsequently appeared in Beijing.
On July 23rd, Zhao Xuejun’s circle of friends reposted a video related to the German film “The Wave.” This film tells the story of a high school teacher leading students to experience a fascist dictatorship through classroom experiments.
Public information shows that the 57-year-old Zhao Xuejun graduated from Tianjin University with a degree in electronic engineering. He pursued a master’s degree in the China-US Economic Education Exchange Program “Ford Class” at Fudan University, and obtained a doctorate from Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management under the guidance of economist Gao Shangquan.
He had previously worked at Tianjin Communication Broadcasting Company, Ministry of Foreign Trade, China National Instruments Import and Export Corporation, Beijing Commodity Exchange, Tianjin Textile Raw Materials Exchange, Shangding Futures Brokers Co. Ltd., Beijing Securities Co., Ltd., and Assistant General Manager of Dacheng Fund Management Co. Ltd. He served as the general manager of Jiashi Fund since October 2000, and as chairman of Jiashi Fund since December 2017, making him one of the longest-serving executives in the Chinese public fund industry.
According to Jiashi Fund’s official website, Zhao Xuejun also serves as a lecturer for the EMBA program at Tsinghua University PBCSF, part-time vice chairman of the China Securities Investment Fund Industry Association, vice chairman/president of the Asia branch of the American Leadership Foundation, and a member of the International Advisory Board for Financial Engineering at UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Established in March 1999, Jiashi Fund is one of the first ten fund management companies established in mainland China. The official website shows that Jiashi Fund manages various assets totaling over 1.57 trillion RMB.
Prior reports by several mainland Chinese media outlets stated that the National Audit Office’s professional team has entered over ten leading domestic public fund companies, including Jiashi Fund.