BEIJNG, CHINA – NOVEMBER 13: Illuminated skyscrapers stand at the central business district at sunset on November 13, 2023 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Gao Zehong/VCG via Getty Images)
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China’s cabinet on Wednesday appointed markets veteran Wu Qing as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, state media Xinhua said, replacing Yi Huiman to navigate Beijing through the turbulent waters of a market downturn.
Nicknamed the “Broker Butcher,” Wu was previously the acting vice mayor of China’s major financial hub Shanghai and served nearly two years as chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
His predecessor Yi took the mantle of the CRSC in 2019, tasked to undertake a spate of sweeping capital markets reforms.
Wu’s appointment comes on the footsteps of the CSRC over the past two weeks announcing new supportive policies to stabilize and revitalize China’s stricken stock market, which has become a casualty of volatility in the property sector and widespread investor pessimism over the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy.
Exacerbating the picture, China’s CSI 300 tumbled to a five-year-low on Jan. 31, after the country’s manufacturing activity shrank for the fourth straight month.
This is a breaking news story, and it is being updated.