China savings bank says execs probed for economic crimes

HONG KONG, June 12 (Reuters) - Two executives of Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), which provides financial services to SMEs and rural customers, are being investigated on suspicion of committing economic crimes, the company said in a statement.

President Tao Liming and Chen Hongping, chief of an asset operation department at the PSBC, were helping with investigations into "personal economic issues", it said in the statement released on Monday.

Tao was put under shuanggui, a disciplinary system used against senior government or state-owned enterprises. It was not immediately clear if Chen had also been placed under shuanggui.

Officials at the office for the party's discipline body, the Central Commission of Discipline Inspection, were not immediately available to comment.

The investigation comes nearly two weeks after a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters that a vice president at Agricultural Bank of China Ltd , the country's third-largest bank by market value, was being investigated by authorities.

Cases of corruption involving executives at China's big banks are rare and the two cases are likely to draw unwanted attention to the state-owned companies.

During the investigation, the bank's business, operation and financial situation would not be affected, the company said.

The PSBC has more than 500 million clients, as well as assets exceeding 4 trillion yuan ($628 billion), according to the official Xinhua news agency. ($1 = 6.3694 Chinese yuan) (Reporting By Tian Chen; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Michael Urquhart)