A high-profile figure in Chinese investment management has pleaded guilty to insider dealing and other offences.

A high-level Chinese financier has pleaded guilty to insider trading and manipulation of stock prices, as the Asian giant pushes against wrongdoing in the marketplace, according to media reports.

The guilty plea has been made at a Chinese court, involving financier Xu Xiang. He was arrested last November. 

Xu, sometimes nicknamed Big Xu (source: New York Times), owned Zexi Investment, a Shanghai-based firm. The company's financial results, reports said, far outperformed its rivals' during the years up until and even after China’s stock market bubble burst in the summer of 2015. 

The tycoon and his family are estimated to be worth $2.2 billion, the NYT said, citing data from the Hurun Report, which is a magazine tracking the rich in the region.

Zexi Investment has reportedly largely ceased to function. The Chinese State Administration for Industry and Commerce says the firm has been in a state of “abnormal management” since 5 November, the report said.

This news service will monitor the case and update where necessary.