Bank of China (BOC) announced the resignation of its vice chairman and president Liu Jin on Sunday.
“Mr. Liu Jin has confirmed that he has no disagreement with the Board, and there are no matters that need to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of the Bank,” reads the bank statement, citing “personal reasons” for the resignation and offering no other details.
In a separate announcement, the board of directors unanimously voted to approve Geo Haijiao, chair, as acting president.
BOC did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Liu could not be immediately reached for comment.
BOC, one of China’s oldest banks—not to be confused with China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)—was restructured into a wholly state-owned bank in 1994.
Liu’s departure follows that of former BOC Chairman Liu Liange, who stepped down in March 2023 and was placed under investigation by the Chinese communist regime’s anti-graft watchdog before pleading guilty to taking bribes worth more than 121 million yuan, as China intensified its anti-corruption campaign in the $66 trillion financial industry. Liu Liange was then expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October 2023.
Liu Jin had served as president of the bank since April 2021. Before that, he was president of China Everbright Bank, vice president of China Development Bank, and head of investment banking at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
Last March, Liu spoke at the Global Wealth Management Forum and issued a warning about China’s financial development. He said that finance should serve the real economy, rather than distort the market, as doing so excessively could lead to an economic bubble. Liu’s perspective ran counter to that of state officials.
At the time, experts were warning of deflation and a potential economic collapse in China while CCP officials stated there would be no deflation in official comments. The CCP has taken a heavy-handed approach with the Chinese economy, including issuing billions in stimulus and using national security forces to regulate the financial sector.
China is indeed seeing a financial shakeup. The real estate sector, which drove much of China’s economy, is in freefall, with most major groups heavily indebted and many being sued by investors for liquidation. China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted company, has become the poster child of the crisis.
Foreign investment in China is also waning. Official data showed a sharp decline early this year, which the regime has tried to downplay while courting foreign investment. This month, the Chinese stock exchanged stopped releasing daily and real-time data of foreign equity moving into China, making the key market indicator only available on a quarterly basis.
Reuters contributed to this report.
