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China’s Communist Party
ChinaPolitics

Once China’s top securities regulator, disgraced official is now an adviser to its central bank

  • Liu Shiyu has been attending meetings in new role with People’s Bank of China, according to online posts since April
  • He was punished and demoted four years ago for ‘wrongdoings’ following a probe by the anti-corruption watchdog

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Liu Shiyu, former chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, avoided criminal charges and retained his party membership after a corruption investigation. Photo: Simon Song
William Zheng
Disgraced former top securities regulator Liu Shiyu has been appointed as an adviser to the central bank’s head office in an unusual comeback for a Chinese cadre under a corruption cloud.
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In recent months Liu has attended meetings in Chongqing as well as Jiangsu and Hubei provinces in his new role with the People’s Bank of China, according to online posts by local government bodies and official associations since April.

The 61-year-old’s new job was first reported by Guangdong-based financial publication China Fund News on July 8.

Liu Shiyu is now working for the Counsellors’ Office of the PBOC. Photo: Reuters
Liu Shiyu is now working for the Counsellors’ Office of the PBOC. Photo: Reuters
It comes four years after Liu was punished and demoted for “wrongdoings” following an investigation by the anti-corruption watchdog. But Liu, who headed the China Securities Regulatory Commission, did not face criminal charges and was not expelled from the ruling Communist Party.

He is now working for the Counsellors’ Office of the PBOC – a unit within its head office that handles currency and foreign debt data, conducts research on legal, economic and financial matters, and makes recommendations to the central bank management. It has no decision-making power.

Liu was chairman of the powerful CSRC for three years before he was sidelined to the role of deputy party chief of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives in January 2019, a move that shocked the financial sector.
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Four months later, Beijing said Liu had surrendered himself to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

After a five-month investigation the watchdog found Liu had not upheld the principles of a party member, made inappropriate public speeches and lacked “political vigilance” and awareness of confidentiality rules. He was also found to have used his public role for personal gain, broke the rules to get jobs or promotions for others, and accepted gifts to make it easier for his relatives to buy homes.

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