China Detains Bankers, Takes Passports in Graft Crackdown (1)

China is turning up the heat on its army of 8,700 investment bankers.

After being forced to take big pay cuts and adhere to other belt-tightening measures under President Xi Jinping’s years-long common prosperity campaign, the country’s dealmakers are now in the crosshairs of the nation’s top graft buster.

At least three top investment bankers from different securities firms have been detained by Chinese authorities since August, sending a chill through the industry. One of them, who used to oversee dealmaking at Haitong Securities Co., fled the country and was arrested overseas about two weeks ago, before being repatriated ...