China Probes Ex-Markets Chief Yi Over Corruption, Reuters Says

China is investigating its former top securities regulator Yi Huiman over alleged corruption, Reuters reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Yi was taken away last week, the news agency said, citing sources.

Yi, 60, was in February last year replaced as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission by a former close colleague of Premier Li Qiang. His dismissal came as authorities were battling to stem a stock selloff that erased about $5 trillion from Chinese markets from their 2021 peak. Markets have staged a recovery this year.

The former banker, who had steered the top regulator since January 2019, joins a long list of financial officials and executives caught in President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption. Xi has vowed to deepen the efforts in sectors from finance to energy and show “no mercy” in the fight, even after having claimed initial victory in mid-2022.

Before becoming a regulator, Yi spent most of his career at the nation’s largest lender, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., including serving as its chairman from 2016 to 2019.