Foreign news: Chinese debt to equity push gets underway, Wells Fargo staff may face criminal charges
China Construction Bank is talking to more than 50 companies about converting their debt to equity, as part of the country's efforts to rein in the explosion of corporate debt, Bloomberg reports. The bank is already working with one company, Yunnan Tin Group, seeking money from investors to buy out ten billion yuan of loans. None of the debt is non-performing. Last week the Chinese Government released guidelines for reducing corporate debt and swapping debt for equity. The California Attorney General has begun an investigation into whether Wells Fargo employees committed identity theft when they opened unauthorised accounts and should face criminal charges, The Guardian reports. In order to meet sales targets, bank employees opened around two million accounts without customer approval. Warrants issued by the California Department of Justice are seeking the names of affected customers, the names of employees who opened the accounts and their managers, and any fees and charges associated with the accounts.