Fund manager asks staff to return excess pay

A top 10 Chinese fund manager has asked senior executives to return pay received over the past five years that exceeds a new cap, to tally with a government initiative promoting economic equality, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

China Merchants Fund Management wants the executives to repay income beyond a 3-million-yuan (HK$3.3 million) limit imposed this year for each year from 2019 to 2023, the people said.

The firm, wholly owned by China Merchants Group - one of the country's largest state-owned conglomerates - is run by six executives and there are another three who run subsidiaries.

Capping salaries and recalling pay have become avenues through which state-owned companies can adhere to the government's "common prosperity" campaign. Through that, Beijing, since 2021, has sought to address social and income inequality as economic growth slows.

The campaign has seen authorities discourage extravagant lifestyles among the financial elite. Fund managers have come into focus due to the high profit earned even though the stock market has performed poorly, the people said.

China Merchants FM has already asked some portfolio managers to return pay from last year that exceeded the 3-million-yuan threshold, Reuters reported in July.

Reuters