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China’s Communist Party
ChinaPolitics

Senior official with China’s new financial regulator targeted in corruption probe just a week into the job

  • Ren Chunsheng is detained after starting role at regulatory body established last year as part of Communist Party and state organ overhaul
  • Beijing’s anti-corruption watchdog has had the financial system in its cross hairs, nabbing 20 major industry figures in the first four months of 2024

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Friends of Ren Chunsheng say they have not been able to reach the senior finance official since he stepped down from his position at the Shanghai Insurance Exchange late last month, according to a Shanghai official who knows him. Photo: Weibo/沂蒙山上一匹狼
William Zheng
A senior official from China’s new financial regulatory body has been detained by the country’s top anti-corruption watchdog, according to official announcements.
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The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said on Tuesday that Ren Chunsheng, leader of the preparatory team for the Complaint Mediation Centre of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), was under investigation because he was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law” – a euphemism for corruption.

Ren, 55, appears to have joined the administration earlier this month, serving at the agency for about a week before his detention. He is the first senior official at the new financial regulator to be targeted in an anti-corruption investigation.

The NFRA was established in March of last year as part of a major overhaul of Communist Party and state organs.

As part of that overhaul, Beijing established a powerful Central Financial Commission, led by Premier Li Qiang, to decide the general direction of financial regulation. The NFRA was founded to serve as the execution and enforcement arm of the commission’s decisions.
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The NFRA’s Complaint Mediation Centre will be a key mechanism to coordinate the handling of consumer and market complaints about financial institutions’ products and unfair practices and to deal with actions that infringe on consumers’ rights and interests.

Ren stepped down as the party secretary and chairman of the Shanghai Insurance Exchange (SHIE) in late April, a position he had held since July 2021.

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