【英语财经】泛亚金属交易所投资者赴京请愿 Metals scheme investors petition Beijing

Angry Chinese investors who lost money in a metals trading exchange financing scheme gone awry have appealed to Beijing to investigate the matter.

Armed with Chinese flags and photos of premier Li Keqiang, protesters rallied on Monday in front of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in Beijing. The protesters had earlier registered a petition with 1,000 names to the petitions office, the threshold for bringing a case to the attention of the state council, China’s cabinet

Fanya Metals Exchange, which stockpiled minor metals including indium and bismuth, stopped payouts on high interest rate investment products after it suffered liquidity problems this spring.

The freeze has caused international minor metals prices to slide sharply and led to protests by well-heeled investors in the southwestern city of Kunming and in Shanghai, the country’s financial centre.

The exchange’s liquidity freeze comes as slowing growth raises concerns over the health of financing products that funnel money from individual investors to shadow loans offering higher interest rates.

“We have been filing our complaints locally but it didn’t work out so the only way for us is to come to Beijing to petition the central government,” said Chen Qiaohong, a businessman from Jiangsu who has Rmb5m ($785,000) frozen with the exchange.

Protesters were joined by sales agents from distribution groups that had been hired to sell the exchange’s investment products. Agents said they were told by exchange founder Shan Jiuliang that he could not meet obligations to the distributors, many of whom had invested in the products as well as selling them. Mr Shan did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

“Last week some of the agents met with investors and made clear that they will support the investors,” said an agent surnamed Yuan. She said her agency is one of about 30 distribution groups deployed by Fanya.

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters marched to the Jingan Temple in central Shanghai, one of the wealthiest temples in China. “Not a single government agency has been willing to have a dialogue with us,” said a Shanghai-based investor who declined to be named. “If we can’t count on the government, we can only count on the Buddha.”

Last month, hundreds of investors conducted a citizens’ arrest of Mr Shan after surrounding his hotel at dawn. They handed him over to police in an attempt to force an investigation. He was promptly freed.

While there have been few signs that authorities are willing to investigate the exchange’s metals stockpiling or frozen financial obligations, investors also enjoy a rare degree of tolerance. Only a few unarmed policemen guarded the recent demonstrations, in contrast to the paramilitary units armed with riot shields and clubs that usually greet Chinese protesters.

Additional reporting by Owen Guo

在一金属交易所融资计划出现问题后，遭遇损失的愤怒的中国投资者呼吁中国政府调查此事。

周一，抗议者举着中国国旗和国务院总理李克强的照片，聚集在中国证监会(CSRC)门口。抗议者之前曾向国家信访局递交一份有1000人签名的请愿书，上访是使案子引起国务院注意的必经之路。

泛亚有色金属交易所(Fanya Metals Exchange)囤积铟和铋等稀有金属，今年春季，在遭遇流动性危机后，该公司已停止兑付其高息投资产品。

流动性冻结导致国际稀有金属价格大幅下跌，并促使富有投资者在西南城市昆明和中国金融中心上海发起抗议。

在该交易所流动性冻结之际，经济增速放缓引发了人们对于融资产品健康状况的担忧，这些产品将个人投资者的资金投资于支付较高利息的影子贷款。

来自江苏的商人陈桥宏表示：“我们已在当地起诉，但没有立案，因此唯一的办法是到北京向中央政府请愿。”他有500万元人民币 (合78.5万美元)投资在该交易所冻结。

抗议者队伍中还包括被聘出售该交易所投资产品的分销机构的销售代理。这些销售代理表示，该交易所创始人单九良告诉他们，他无法履行对分销机构的承诺，其中很多分销机构在销售这些产品的同时还投资于这些产品。单九良没有接听记者的致电。

上周六，数百名抗议者游行至中国最富有的寺庙之一——上海市中心的静安寺。“没有一个政府机构愿意与我们对话，”一位不愿具名的上海投资者表示，“如果不能指望政府的话，我们就只能指望佛祖了。”

上月，数百名投资者在黎明时分包围了单九良所住的酒店，随后将其扭送至警方，试图迫使当局展开调查。但他很快被释放。

尽管几乎没有迹象表明，政府愿意对泛亚交易所的金属囤积行为或无法兑现金融义务一事展开调查，但投资者似乎享受到了罕见的包容。在最近的示威活动上，只有几名不带武器的警察负责巡逻，而通常迎接中国抗议者的是手持防暴盾牌和警棍的武警。

郭晨(Owen Guo)补充报道

译者/何黎