Senior Chinese financial regulator and ex-graft fighter Zhou Liang under corruption probe

A senior Chinese financial regulator and former graft fighter has been placed under investigation for corruption, officials announced on Tuesday, marking one of the highest-profile purges among China’s financial regulatory apparatus in recent years.

Zhou Liang, vice-chairman of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law”, a euphemism for corruption, bribery and abuse of power, according to an announcement by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Commission of Supervision, the country’s top anti-corruption watchdogs.

The career of Zhou, 54, was notably linked for decades to Wang Qishan, the former vice-president and original architect and enforcer of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign during his first term as president.

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In the late 1990s, Zhou served in the general office of the Guangdong provincial government in southern China. He later served in the State Council System Reform Office, Beijing’s municipal government and the Hainan provincial government.

Before joining the financial regulatory body, Zhou was the head of the CCDI’s organisation department, a role that gave him significant influence over the appointment and training of the country’s corruption fighters.

In 2017, he was appointed vice-chairman of China’s financial regulator, then called the China Banking Regulatory Commission, which ultimately evolved into the NFRA in 2023.

Zhou’s transition from corruption investigator to financial regulator was initially seen as a move to institutionalise discipline within the banking sector, and he remained a central figure amid China’s post-2017 financial regulatory restructuring.

South China Morning Post