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SHANGHAI – The British Bank HSBC's bid to sell its stake in China's Ping An group is in jeopardy after China Development Bank decided not to finance a large part of the transaction.

The state-run Chinese bank was expected to help the Charoen Pokphand Group of Thailand acquire HSBC's 15.6 percent stake in Ping An for about $9.4 billion. But executives at the China Development Bank recently blocked the deal because the loan to the Thai conglomerate may have violated state regulations, according to people familiar the deal.

The state-run China Development Bank is now conducting an internal review to determine how its executives nearly made a multi-billion dollar loan without proper approvals. A person familiar with the inquiry said such a huge financing deal may have violated Chinese regulations that bar the use of bank loans to purchase substantial stakes in insurance companies.

HSBC announced plans in December to sell its entire stake in Ping An to the CP Group of Thailand. Part of that sale has already been completed. But media outlets surfaced this week that China Development Bank had decided not to finance the rest of the deal and that the China Insurance Regulatory Commission is likely to reject the deal. The reports were first published in the South China Morning Post.

The uncertainty has weighed on Ping An's stock. On Wednesday, shares of the insurer closed at 68.75 Hong Kong dollars, down 4 percent from Monday.

The companies involved all declined to comment Wednesday.

The deal is facing difficulty at a time of growing scrutiny of Ping An. The company, which is China's second largest insurer and a financial conglomerate worth about $60 billion, has longstanding financial ties to the relatives of Chinas prime minister, Wen Jiabao, according to documents obtained by The Times. The Times reported earlier that the relatives of China's prime minister had amassed a multi-billion stake in Ping An before the company's initial public offering in 2004.

The stake was bought from a Chinese state-owned company for about $65 million in late 2002, and at one time was worth as much as $3.7 billion. The relatives of Mr. Wen owned a portion of those shares through a series of holding companies. It is unclear whether they have sold their entire stake.

The relatives of China's former central bank chief, Dai Xianglong, also held a Ping An stake through holding companies during the same period. At one point, the companies controlled about $3.1 billion in Ping An shares, according to corporate documents obtained by The Times.

The relatives obtained the shares at a time when the two senior government officials were effectively acting as financial regulators with oversight of Ping An during a crucial period before its 2004 I.P.O. The relatives of the two senior officials have denied holding the stakes.

HSBC acquired its initial stake in Ping An in September 2002, and bought additional stakes in Ping An from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. On Dec. 5, HSBC said it planned to sell its entire 15.6 percent stake to the CP Group of Thailand, as part of a larger effort to boost its capital levels.

Soon after, one of China's top business publications, Caixin, reported that a large part of the payment for the first part of the purchase would come from a group of Chinese investors and Ping An's management team, as well as the former president of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra. Ping An and CP Group disputed the Caixin magazine report.

Ping An is widely regarded as one of China's most successful financial services firms. The company was founded in 1988, and has operated as a shareholding company largely since then. It is not considered a state-owned company, but the government of Shenzhen has always held a big stake in Ping An, which operates the country's second largest insurer.

David Barboza reported from Shanghai; Keith Bradsher reported from Hong Kong.