JPMorgan China Investment Banking Head Frank Gong to Leave

By WSJ Staff 

Frank Gong, who was promoted to chairman of investment banking for China for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in March, is leaving the bank, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

Mr. Gong will stay "for a while to manage the transition", the person said, but he hasn't given a specific date for his departure.

Mr. Gong announced his plans to retire Tuesday, the person said.

Mr. Gong was appointed the U.S. bank's China investment banking head when the company reshuffled its leadership.

That same month, Fang Fang, who was chief executive for China investment banking and vice chairman of investment banking in Asia, retired amid a U.S. investigation into the bank's hiring practices in the region. Mr. Fang was replaced by two other J.P. Morgan executives, Brian Gu and Jing Zhao, who were made co-heads of investment banking for China.

Mr. Gong rose to prominence at J.P. Morgan as an economist and foreign-exchange strategist before switching to investment banking in 2009. He attracted attention in the middle of the last decade for predicting that China would revalue the yuan and later for his expectation that China would unveil a huge stimulus package in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Bloomberg reported Mr. Gong's departure plans earlier. He couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

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