HONG KONG: UBS has lost a lead role on a US dollar bond deal for state-backed China Railway Construction Corp, just days after a Chinese outcry over a senior UBS economist’s use of “pig” in connection with Chinese food price inflation.
While UBS apologised for the remark on Thursday and put the analyst on leave on Friday, the furore led Haitong International Securities, a leading Chinese brokerage, to suspend all business with the Swiss group as some Chinese bankers and analysts criticised the bank for a lack of cultural awareness.