By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on China said on Thursday it sent subpoenas addressed to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan over their banks’ roles in underwriting the initial public offering of Chinese battery manufacturer CATL.
The U.S. government has alleged that CATL, the world’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, works with China’s military. In January, Washington added CATL to a list of companies that it alleged aided Beijing’s military. CATL says it was “not engaged in any military-related activities.”
The congressional panel asked the banks’ executives to comply by August 8. The committee said it requested information from the banks in April. Bank of America produced 10 documents, nine of them public, while JPMorgan produced one public document, the House panel said, adding it has not received all of the requested details.
“We’ve had constructive engagement with the committee and will continue to engage,” a Bank of America spokesperson said. JPMorgan declined to comment.
Earlier this year, Republican U.S. Representative John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, urged the U.S. banks to pull out of underwriting the Hong Kong IPO of the Chinese firm.
Washington and Beijing have had tensions for years spanning issues such as trade tariffs, technology, cybersecurity and geopolitics.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)
