China faces a wave of resignations by chiefs and executives of listed companies and banks as Beijing ramps up a crackdown on the nation’s financial industry.
In a little more than a month, more than a thousand senior leaders of China’s A-share listed companies, banks, and financial institutions resigned for personal reasons, according to Chinese state media reports.
Following Liu Jin’s sudden resignation as vice chairman and president of the Bank of China at the end of August, the long resignation list includes chairmen, presidents, vice presidents, and other senior executives from various levels of banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, and state-owned enterprises.
This wave of departures coincides with Beijing’s intensified purge in the financial sector. By Sept. 18, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection had listed at least 67 senior finance officials being investigated, disciplined, or expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) this year.
Du Wen, a former Inner Mongolia Legislative Affairs Office official, and economist Li Hengqing, both U.S.-based, told The Epoch Times that these high-level finance officials are insiders of the CCP system and that their resignations indicate their waning confidence in the economy and anticipation of heightened political risks.
Resignations don’t happen easily, as they require approval from the CCP.
Du said an insider told him that the central authorities did not approve most resignations “over financial stability concerns.” According to him, those bankers and company chiefs would have to remain in their positions, bearing the risks of being interrogated to assist any financial investigations by the disciplinary authorities and even being politically purged.
Li said investment bankers are familiar with all kinds of bad debts and falsified account and audit reports in the financial system and that the CCP won’t want to see them fleeing with this secret.
Some brokerage firms have required investment bankers to hand in their passports and impose conditional restrictions on outbound travel, while others suspended reviews of resignations, according to China’s state media. One report also quoted a financial chief who said he felt that the sector has become an “unfriendly environment” that is going through “one of the worst cycles” and causing “uncertainty about the future.”
Amid the nationwide sweeping purge, financial executives and bosses of state-owned enterprises have been caught in a difficult situation, being unable to leave China or their jobs, according to David Huang, an economist familiar with the situation in China. Their difficult situation, he said, was caused by the current management system of the CCP, which requires them to submit their passports to the relevant authorities and withholds them unless they resign.
The CCP has stepped up its “anti-corruption” efforts in the financial sector. So far, one of the most severely punished in financial crime is Tian Huiyu, former president of China Merchants Bank Co., who, in February, received a suspended death sentence over bribes and insider trading. Tian was also expelled from the CCP and had all personal property confiscated.
In July, a former deputy general manager of Haitong Securities fled the country. Just a month later, he was caught and deported to China. Chinese media reported his case as part of the “Skynet” operation under Beijing’s Ministry of Public Security to apprehend corrupt CCP officials who flee to foreign countries.
The financial system, a central pillar of the Chinese economy, has long been plagued by astronomical local debt, property bubbles, shadow banking, and repayment crises.
“Those high-income earners with high-ranking positions are more exposed to the danger of a volcano that could erupt at any time, so they are eager to absolve themselves of responsibility and avoid becoming scapegoats before the financial market collapses,” Du said.
China’s stock market has been trending downward in recent years. The CSI 300 Index—a free-float weighted index that reflects the overall performance of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets—hit a record low of 3,159.92 on Sept. 13, a stark contrast to 5,807.72 in February 2021, the highest point since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and strict quarantine measures were imposed in the country.
Xin Ning contributed to this report.
