China appoints Li Yunze to head new financial regulator

Chinese authorities have appointed banking veteran Li Yunze as head of its new financial regulator.

Li, 52, has been appointed party secretary of the newly formed National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said today (May 10). Li is currently vice-governor of Sichuan province.

Beijing set up the NFRA during its annual parliamentary meeting in March, as part of an overhaul of its financial regulatory system and other central government institutions.

The NFRA is tasked with supervising most of the country’s financial industry, except the securities sector.

The new body will replace the CBIRC. It will also take over some of the current regulatory roles of the People’s Bank of China and China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

The PBoC will hand over its roles in protecting financial consumers and regulating financial holding companies. Similarly, the CSRC will pass over its responsibilities in investor protection.

Some analysts believe the overhaul will see a diminished Chinese central bank but a more centralised regulatory system that can respond to shocks more swiftly.

Li is less known compared with other heads of financial regulators, such as PBoC governor Yi Gang and CSRC chairman Yi Huiman.

He worked at two of China’s largest state-owned banks for 25 years before joining the government. He worked for China Construction Bank from 1993 to 2016, before serving as vice-president at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China between 2016 and 2018. Li obtained a doctorate in economics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2018.

Li was appointed vice-governor of Sichuan in 2018 and has served in the role since then. Last October, he was added to the list of alternate members of the Central Committee – the Communist Party’s key decision-making body.