BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - China's Cabinet on Wednesday named banking veteran Wu Qing as the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission or CSRC, according to the state media Xinhua.
Wu Qing, nicknamed 'Broker Butcher', will replace Yi Huiman, who assumed the role in 2019. Most recently, Wu served as the deputy party secretary of China's major financial hub, Shanghai. He had also served as the chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The appointment comes after CSRC announced its intentions earlier to revitalize China's stock market through new supportive policies, as approximately $3 trillion in market capitalization has been wiped off from Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets since 2021 due to various factors such as weak demand, deflationary pressures, a crashed real estate sector, and increased trade tensions with the U.S.
The Chinese government had laid down ambitious plans to turn the country into a financial superpower. President Xi Jinping said that preventing and solving financial risks will be the 'eternal theme' for the government.
Wu's first task after taking the reins of the securities watchdog would be to restore the investors' confidence in China's stock market.
Last week, China's sovereign wealth fund, Central Huijin Investment, proposed its plan to buy more shares. Following this, CSRC stated that it 'firmly supports' the fund's decision to bring a brief relief to the market. However, investors panicked again when a Hong Kong court ordered the indebted real estate company, Evergrande, to liquidate.
Earlier this week, CSRC vowed to follow a 'zero tolerance policy' to crack down on hostile short selling, which means betting that a certain asset or assets will fall in price, and warned the offenders that they will 'lose their shirts and rot in jail', Reuters reported.
'The CSRC will crack down on the use of securities lending transactions to implement improper arbitrage and other illegal activities in accordance with the law to ensure the smooth operation of the securities lending business,' a commission spokesperson said.
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