JPMorgan shut China tycoon’s account that made millions for bank

Published Thu, Mar 19, 2026 · 11:41 AM

[HONG KONG] JPMorgan Chase has shut the private banking account of Tang Hao, a Chinese investor who rose to prominence after taking a multibillion-dollar stake in one of the world’s top-performing stocks, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Tang was a major client of JPMorgan’s China private banking team who generated millions of US dollars in revenue before the firm ended relations a few months ago due to know-your-customer issues, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Tang had a US$4 billion stake in AppLovin as at early 2025 after the US ad-tech firm’s shares surged more than 700 per cent the previous year.

“As a matter of policy, we are unable to confirm whether any individual is a client of the private bank,” a spokesperson for JPMorgan said. Joshua Grandy, a spokesperson at AppLovin, said the firm declined to comment. A representative for Tang declined to comment.

Shunning an investor with a disclosed large stake in a public company is an unusual move for a major private bank. Even so, JPMorgan’s revenue from the China business has been growing, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Know-your-customer rules require banks to verify a client’s identity and source of funds to avoid potential illicit activity.

Palo Alto, California-based AppLovin, which provides marketing services to mobile app developers, was a beneficiary of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom and ranked among the world’s best-performing stocks in 2024.

A filing from 2025 showed Tang had a 3.2 per cent stake in the company, which is worth about US$4.6 billion as at Tuesday’s close, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Beyond investing, Tang has been active in philanthropy. His family donated US$20 million in 2018 to Columbia University’s engineering school, and established a fellowship for AI studies at Carnegie Mellon University through the Goldenway Education Foundation, now known as the Tang Family Foundation.

In 2009, Tang founded Goldenway Investments in Hong Kong, which has holdings in numerous areas.

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