GreenergyDaily

Apr. 18, 2025

1. A US congressional committee called on two American banks to withdraw from working on the Chinese battery maker CATL's planned initial public offering in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported.

2. Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are exposing themselves and their American investors to "significant regulatory, financial and reputational risks" by underwriting CATL's listing, House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan, said in letters addressed to JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.

3. The two letters highlighted the inclusion of CATL, as the company is known, on a Pentagon blacklist in January, citing its alleged links to the Chinese military. US President Donald Trump's America First Investment Policy memo also aims to deter Wall Street from steering American retail investors into funding CATL's listing, according to the letters.

4. The company won Hong Kong's approval earlier this month to proceed with a listing that may fetch at least $5 billion, which may be the world's biggest such offering this year.

5. If the banks are unwilling to immediately withdraw from the deal, the committee is asking for detailed responses to 21 questions about their risk assessments, compliance protocols and possible violations of US law, according to the letters.

6. A CATL spokesperson said the allegations in the letters are without merit and the company has never engaged in any military-related business or activities. The designation of CATL as a Chinese military company is a mistake, and the company is engaging with the US Department of Defense to clarify any misunderstandings, the spokesperson said.