China Is Cracking Down on Bankers. Here Are Some of the Targets.
New York TimesApr 27, 2023
On Monday, China's Supreme People's Procuratorate announced the arrest of the former Bank of China chairman, Liu Liange, over suspicions of accepting bribes and giving illegal loans.
This comes a little over a week after Liu was expelled from the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and had his qualification as a delegate to the 20th CPC National Congress terminated over alleged violations of regulations, reportedly including abuse of power.
Whether allegations against Liu are genuine or fabricated, what's evident is that he's just another prominent figure whom the Chinese regime has made an example of to force loyalty on and consolidate control over the financial system. In addition to this witch-hunt against finance executives, Beijing has also reformed its financial regulatory system to give more power to party officials.
Corrupted financial executives at state-owned banks harm the public interest and aggravate financial risks to seek private gains, so it's vital to the stability of the Chinese financial system that authorities resolutely take steps to fight corruption and get rid of rotten apples like Liu Liange once and for all.
There's a 50% chance that China's Corruption Perception Index level will be at least 44 in 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.