Chinese Wealth Management Company
Noah Holdings (Noah; Chinese: 諾亞控股; pinyin: Nuòyǎ Kònggǔ) is a Chinese financial services company headquartered in Shanghai, China. It is the largest independent wealth management company in China.[2][3]
Background
Wang Jinbao worked in the private banking division of Xiangcai Securities. In August 2005, she and her colleague Yin Zhe lead a management buyout of the division. The division was spun out as an independent company and was renamed to Noah. The company was launched with 3 million RMB in capital and worked out of a small office on Shanghai furnished with second-hand furniture purchased from an online market.[1][2][4][5][6][7]
In 2007, Noah accepted an investment from Sequoia Capital.[1][2][5]
In March 2010, Noah set up its asset management subsidiary, Gopher Asset Management which specialized in fund of funds management of alternative investments.[1][4][5]
On 10 November 2010, Noah held an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange for $12 apiece. The stock climbed 33% to nearly $16 on its first day.[1][2][7][8]
In early 2012, Noah launched its overseas expansion. It first set up an office in Hong Kong then set up additional offices in Taiwan, Silicon Valley, New York and Singapore.[1][5]
In October 2016, Sequoia Capital acquired a $52 million stake in Gopher Asset Management. In October 2017, Noah bought back Sequoia 's stake.[9][10]
In July 2022, Noah held a second listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange making it a dual-listed company.[1]
Wang being a devout Christian named the company after Noah's Ark. Gopher Asset Management was named after Gopher wood which was used to build Noah's Ark.[4]
Initially Noah was mainly a distributor of financial products where it sold wealth management products developed by other institutions to high-net-worth individual clients for a commission fee. However it later formed its own investment products to sell.[5][6]
Controversies
In 2017, products managed by Gopher Asset Management had exposure to China Huishan Dairy Holdings Co., which collapsed after being targeted by short sellers. A Shanghai court agreed to freeze the company's assets worth $79 million at the request of Gopher Asset Management.[6][11]
In June 2018, the Securities and Futures Commission fined the Hong Kong unit of Noah $640,000 for inadequate controls related to know your customer, due diligence and other requirements during the period January 2014 to June 2016.[6][12]
In July 2019, Noah stated $495 million of credit products overseen by one of its units were affected by an alleged fraud at Camsing International Holding Ltd. As a result, shares of Noah declined by over 25% in that week as critics accused the company of failing to conduct proper due diligence. Following the losses, Noah dropped offering of non-standard assets and focused only on investments based on publicly traded securities like stocks and bonds.[6][13]
In March 2023, in response to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Noah stated its business operations were not materially affected.[14]
References
External links
