An imperial-style arch at China Development Bank’s Beijing headquarters has been demolished in a sign of a political purge unleashed on the powerful institution.
The arch, with its white marble base, red columns and nine golden dragons — a symbol of the emperor — was demolished without warning. It had stood outside the glass and steel offices built for an estimated Rmb1.39bn at the height of the bank’s power in 2012 when it had $55bn more in foreign currency loans than the World Bank.
CDB has since been hit by plummeting prices for oil and commodities, which have strained its cash-for-oil loan arrangements with Venezuela, Brazil and Russia. The poor performance of the property market in China has been another blow for CDB, which pioneered loans to local governments with land as collateral.