, Columnist
The IPO Hong Kong Could Do Without
Jiutai Rural Commercial Bank isn't likely to set the market on fire.
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It doesn't bode too well for Hong Kong's IPO market that the first significant deal to be priced this year in the world's biggest fundraising venue is a rural Chinese bank.
On top of well-documented problems like a large exposure to wealth-management products and rising bad loans, Jilin Jiutai Rural Commercial Bank Co. has to cope with the high level of operational risk that comes from being a holding company for 37 other lenders, of which 21 are majority owned and 16 aren't.