On September 26, 2021, the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will conduct political inspections of 25 financial institutions.
Zhao Leji, a CCP politburo standing committee member and head of the CCDI, stressed, during a conference ahead of the inspections, that it will be a thorough disciplinary inspection of the 25 financial institutions. He said that the inspections are to ensure political supervision and serve as a means of “tightening the rule of the Party.” The inspections will be conducted from a political perspective. He called for in-depth reviews to uncover any political deviations by CCP organizations at these financial institutions.
The 25 financial institutions include state-owned banks, stock exchanges, regulatory commissions, insurance companies, asset management companies, and other financial institutions that invest in private companies. The complete list follows: People’s Bank of China, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Administration of Foreign Exchange, China Investment Corporation, China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China, the Agricultural Development Bank of China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, the Bank of Communications, CITIC Group, the Everbright Group, the People’s Insurance Group of China, China Life Insurance, China Taiping Insurance Group, China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, China Huarong, China Great Wall Asset Management, China Orient Asset Management, and China Cinda Asset Management.
Last month, on August 17, 2021, Xi Jinping presided over the tenth meeting of the CCP Central Finance and Economics Committee and emphasized that it is necessary to coordinate the prevention and resolution of significant financial risks, punish financial corruption, and prevent and control financial risks.
Recently, the CCP investigated and disciplined several CCP officials from financial institutions at the central level, including the China Development Bank, the Agricultural Development Bank of China, and the Bank of Communications.
It is noted that China’s financial system has traditionally been controlled by the CCP “princelings,” the second generation of the CCP’s top families. This includes former president Jiang Zemin and his faction.
This inspection is the eighth round of inspections and the largest financial inspection since Xi Jinping took office as the CCP General Secretary of the 18th National Congress. The previous seven rounds of inspections occurred in February 2018, October 2018, April 2019, September 2019, May 2020, October 2020, and May 2021.
Sources:
CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, September 26, 2021
https://www.ccdi.gov.cn/toutiao/202109/t20210926_251273.html,
https://www.ccdi.gov.cn/toutiao/202109/t20210926_251271.html