China’s finance sector rocked by another sudden death amid overwork fears

The sudden death of a top fund manager in Shanghai – the latest in a string of similar cases – has raised alarm in China’s financial sector, as worries grow over the health risks posed by the industry’s intense work culture.

Shen Xianbing, a founding partner of the private fund Qilin Investment, died on Monday at the age of 40, the company announced the same day, without explaining the cause of his death.

The former University of Science and Technology of China graduate had served as a founding partner at the investment firm – which has more than 28 billion yuan (US$4 billion) of assets under management – since 2015, and had been involved in its operations and management, according to the statement.

The incident follows the untimely deaths of several other high-profile figures in China’s finance sector in recent years, including Wu Jiang, a 38-year-old investment director at fund management firm Western Leadbank; Zhou Ke, a 45-year-old general manager of China Post & Capital Fund Management; and Xiang Tingfeng, a 46-year-old investment director at fund managers Bocom Schroders.

Financial workers around the world often face long hours and intense pressure, which can lead to stress-related burnout and other health risks. And competition among China’s fund managers has ramped up even further in recent years as high-quality assets have become more scarce amid an economic slowdown.

“The pressure to perform has been quite intense,” said a 26-year-old surnamed Xue, who left her job at a state-backed financial lender in central China a few months ago. “I’ve heard some colleagues have left because they failed to meet their targets.”

South China Morning Post