Prime Chinese language banker steps down after ‘dealer butcher’ brother turns into chief market regulator

Wu Bo, who has labored on the massive Chinese language funding financial institution for almost 20 years, is the youthful brother of Wu Qing, who was appointed chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Fee in February, in response to folks conversant in the matter. 

The CSRC oversees all of China’s brokerages, together with CICC, and regulates the nation’s $9 trillion inventory market and a variety of capital-markets actions. Having the siblings at their respective posts may create a battle of curiosity, stated the folks, who requested to not be recognized discussing inner issues.

The CSRC and CICC didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. 

Wu Bo, 46, has held numerous roles at CICC and was simply appointed the agency’s chief monetary officer and president in late 2023. He has additionally been a member of the agency’s administration committee for the previous six years. Previous to CICC, he labored as an auditor for accounting corporations together with PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP. 

Beijing-based CICC stated in a regulatory submitting on Wednesday night that “due to work changes,” Wu Bo is not serving in his govt roles. Chairman Chen Liang would take over Wu’s president duties till a alternative is known as, and one other govt will function CFO quickly, the financial institution added. 

“Mr. Wu Bo has dedicated to his work and fulfilled his duties diligently during his term of office,” CICC stated. It additionally thanked him for what it stated had been his vital contributions to the corporate’s improvement. 

Wu Qing, who turns 59 this month, additionally not too long ago joined the Individuals’s Financial institution of China’s financial coverage committee. The official, who earned the repute as “the broker butcher” from his crackdown on securities corporations in mid-2000s, has had a heavy hand in making an attempt to stabilize the world’s second largest inventory market after three straight years of losses. 

He has up to now pledged to beef up oversight of preliminary public choices, crack down on fraud and act to repair “market failures” in excessive circumstances. The benchmark CSI 300 index has gained nearly 5% since he took workplace.

CICC final month reported 6.16 billion yuan ($851 million) in revenue for 2023, down 19% from the earlier yr. Its whole income and different earnings dropped 5% to 35.45 billion yuan. The state-owned monetary establishment stated funding banking income for the trade was pressured final yr due to a drop in fund elevating from IPOs and follow-on share gross sales. Brokerage revenues additionally declined final yr due to the broader inventory market’s lackluster efficiency. 

The financial institution has been pushing extra austerity measures, and has slashed bankers’ pay and bonuses to higher align itself with Chinese language President Xi Jinping’s push for “common prosperity.”