Top Chinese Financial Regulator Disappears From Official Website

China’s top banking watchdog has removed its chief from its official website leadership roster without explanation.

The website of China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), the Organization Department of the Central Committee ⁠of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), no longer lists Li Yunze as director, leaving only three deputy directors and a senior discipline inspection official.

Neither the agency nor the CCP’s central administration has publicly announced any personnel change.

The lack of official confirmation is typical of elite political reshuffles under the CCP, where leadership changes are often signaled indirectly before being formally announced, or never publicly explained at all.

Li ⁠was appointed head of the NFRA in May 2023. His career was built largely in China’s state banking ​sector, spanning more than two decades at two of the country’s largest lenders.

Li’s last public appearance was a week ago, on April 22, when he chaired a high-level meeting in Beijing on combating illegal financial activities. The day before, he met with Shriti Vadera, chair of British insurer Prudential, according to official readouts.

Both appearances were reported on the official NFRA website.

China’s financial bureaucracy has faced sustained pressure from slowing economic growth and mounting debt risks.

Li, 54, was widely seen as a rising figure in China’s financial system. Born in Shandong Province, he spent more than two decades at the partially state-owned China Construction Bank, working his way up through regional and strategic roles before joining Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as a vice president in 2016.

He later moved into provincial politics, serving as vice governor of Sichuan from 2018 to 2021, before being elevated to the top post at the newly restructured financial regulator in May 2023, two months after the enlarged national regulator was established as part of a regime overhaul to strengthen oversight of the financial sector.

His appointment drew attention at the time, as he became one of the youngest officials of ministerial rank in China’s central government.

Li is also an alternate member of the CCP’s Central Committee, the party’s highest organ of authority, and a member of the People’s Bank of China’s monetary policy committee.

His deputy, Zhou Liang, a former vice minister at the same agency, was under investigation and disciplinary review in March, according to Chinese state media China News. Zhou had previously served as a longtime aide to Wang Qishan, China’s former anti-corruption chief.

Tang Bing and Reuters contributed to this report.