China’s oldest state-owned policy lender has been fined CNY50.5m (US$7.7m) for breaking several laws in its loss-making structured products tied to crude oil, known as Crude Oil Treasure or Yuanyou Bao.

The notes, which were marketed by Bank of China (BOC), generated losses of over CNY9 billion from more than 6,000 retail investors, when May contracts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil plummeted to a negative price (-US$37.63) on 20 April for the first time since the contracts were listed 37 years ago.   The total capital invested is worth CNY4.2 billion, and one-third of the investors had invested more than CNY50,000 each, according to media reports. Some investors said the