Standard Chartered says investigating internship scandal

(Ecns.cn)--Standard Chartered Bank is investigating one of its branches in southern China that allegedly prioritizes the children of VIP clients for job internships, according to the bank's public relations department on Thursday.

According to a Xinhua report Wednesday, undergraduates hoping to work at a Standard Chartered Bank in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, had been told they would have a better chance of securing an internship if a family member opened a VIP account and deposited more than 500,000 yuan (US$79,000).

Yang Hui, a Beijing student, said she had failed the job interview when a bank executive advised her to deposit 100,000 yuan in a savings account over a period of three months to qualify for the internship. She eventually gave up.

A public relations staff member at the Guangdong office later confirmed that the company does in fact have such VIP customer recruitment channels. She said that because Standard Chartered receives so many applications for employment, the children of VIP customers enjoy priority treatment.

In response to the news, Guangzhou lawyer Liu Jicheng said that if the bank uses job internships to sell financial products it is in violation of China's Labor Law, and that Yang Hui should seek justice.