HONG KONG

Bank Runs Being Investigated: The government is beginning to investigate rumors that caused brief runs earlier this month on the Hong Kong branches of Citibank and Britain’s Standard Chartered Bank. Residents have grown increasingly jittery since the government closed the Hong Kong subsidiary of Bank of Credit & Commerce International last month. BCCI Hong Kong Ltd. was shut down shortly after authorities seized several BCCI operations worldwide to investigate allegations of massive fraud. Hong Kong officials say there are signs of an “orchestrated campaign” to destabilize the local banking system. The suggestion was that disgruntled BCCI depositors might be responsible.