What’s new: Li Guorong, a former banking regulator in Southwest China’s Sichuan province, is accused of taking bribes while serving as a senior executive responsible for the takeover of troubled Baoshang Bank Co. Ltd., China’s top antigraft agency unveiled in a Monday statement (link in Chinese).
Li, 46, was a deputy head of a team appointed by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and the central bank to take over Baoshang Bank in 2019 in China’s first state takeover of a commercial lender in 20 years.
During the process of takeover, Li took bribes from entrepreneurs and abused his power to offer them help in loan interest relief, loan issuance and extensions, as well as relevant debt restructuring, the statement said.
The background: It’s the first time that the antigraft organ has unveiled details of Li’s case after he was put under investigation in July.
Li joined the predecessor of the CBIRC in 2003 and was transferred to its Sichuan branch in 2016 to act as a deputy director. In 2018, Li became a member of a team sent to Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank Co. Ltd. to study the lender’s risky dealings with controlling shareholder Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd.
In February this year, Inner Mongolia-based Baoshang Bank was declared bankrupt by a court, making it the first case of a China bank failure in decades. The collapse of Baoshang Bank, which was exposed to serious credit risks, sent tremors through the country’s financial markets and rattled investors’ confidence in smaller financial institutions.
Related: Five Things to Know About China’s First Bank Failure in Decades
Contact reporter Tang Ziyi (ziyitang@caixin.com) and editor Lin Jinbing (jinbinglin@caixin.com)
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