China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission File Photo: IC

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has embraced its new leadership team, with its chief risk officer and spokesperson Xiao Yuanqi assuming the new role of vice chairman.

The promotion came simultaneously as two CBIRC deputy chairmen, Huang Hong and Zhu Shuming, reached their retirement age, read a post on Thursday on the WeChat official account of the Financial News, a publication run by the People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank.

The new leadership team at the CBIRC is made by chairman Guo Shuqing, four vice chairmen including Xiao, and Li Xinran, chief of the Party's disciplinary commission under the CBIRC, according to the regulator's website. 

The CBIRC was created in March 2018 as a consequence of merging the previous two commissions regulating the banking and insurance sectors separately. The organ setting of the CBRIC was finalized in August 2018, with one chairman and four deputy chairmen. Prior to that, the banking and insurance regulator was led by seven vice chairmen.

54-year-old Xiao has years of experience working with the financial regulatory authorities and is considered by industry insiders as a versatile professional with an adept understanding of domestic and overseas financial industry and regulations at different levels.

Xiao has previously worked for the PBC, the Monetary Authority of Macao, and the banking regulatory bureaus of South China's Guangdong Province and Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

He has previously participated in the WTO bilateral and multilateral free trade negotiations, according to the posting, and also headed multiple policies including rules on liquidly risk management of commercial banks and rules on large exposure of commercial banks.

Global Times