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Karen Tian

China has appointed a new Party chief of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), filling the vacancy left by Li Yunze whose profile was abruptly scrubbed from the regulator’s website last month.
Ding Xiangqun will take the key financial regulatory position to oversee banks and insurers with combined assets of over 500 trillion yuan (US$73.89 trillion), according to a statement posted on the NFRA website yesterday.
Ding has been appointed Party secretary of the regulator, while the position of administrator remains vacant pending a formal appointment by the State Council.
The 61-year-old is the only minister-level female taking charge of a key financial regulatory department.
The NFRA is one of China’s key financial regulatory agencies – others include the central bank and securities regulator. It faces key tasks of resolving the risk of small and rural banks, managing commercial banks’ risk exposure to the property downturn and also enhancing the financing support for tech innovation.
Ding is expected to bring a high-calibre technical background to the role, with her three decades of experience in a variety of key state-owned financial institutions. She spent about 20 years at the Bank of China, subsequently serving as deputy president of China Development Bank and chairwoman of the People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China.
She was deputy head of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, which is China’s gateway to Southeast Asia, from 2017 to 2018.


The replacement of 55-year-old Li Yunze, the first head of the NFRA, coincided with Beijing’s rigorous anti-corruption campaign and a strong drive to become a financial superpower.
On April 29, Li’s individual profile page on the NFRA’s official website suddenly went blank after his name vanished from the leadership list. He last appeared publicly as the agency’s head on April 22 at a Beijing meeting to launch a nationwide crackdown on illegal financial activities.
Li, an alternate member of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee, was appointed to head the NFRA – a key agency that supervises major financial industries, including banks and insurers – after the body was created in May 2023.
He was previously considered a rising star in the party, as he was among the first officials born in the 1970s to reach ministerial rank.
Li’s deputy at the NFRA, Zhou Liang, was put under investigation in March for suspected serious violations of discipline and law, according to an announcement by China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
The top anti-corruption watchdog announced on April 30 that Yi Huiman, who served as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission from 2019 to 2024, had been expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public office for serious disciplinary and legal violations.


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Ding Xiangqun takes up key role at the National Financial Regulatory Administration, one month after her predecessor was removed


Ding Xiangqun takes up key role at the National Financial Regulatory Administration, one month after her predecessor was removed.


China appoints top regulatory official as financial clean-up drive continues

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ding Xiangqun takes up key role at the National Financial Regulatory Administration, one month after her predecessor was removed

Ding Xiangqun takes up key role at the National Financial Regulatory Administration, one month after her predecessor was removed