According to a brief statement published on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the 60-year-old official is undergoing “disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.”
Yi, who had a long career in the banking sector and once served as chairman of the state-owned ICBC — the world’s largest bank by assets — was currently serving as deputy director of the economic committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an important advisory body to the government.
The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper, reported that Yi would be the second head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to be investigated for corruption in the past decade, and the third to be dismissed since 2016.
Yi Huiman was replaced in February 2024 after months of turmoil during which Chinese stock markets plummeted, wiping out trillions of euros in investor value.
His predecessor, Liu Shiyu, was dismissed in 2019 and later investigated for allegedly accepting gifts and cash, as well as for promoting the sale of shares in companies from his hometown.
Liu had taken over the role after Xiao Gang was dismissed in 2016, following the stock market crash of the previous year, when Chinese markets lost nearly three trillion euros.
“The CSRC is more than just a stock market regulator in China, as it has long been responsible for protecting the interests of small investors who put their savings into the stock market,” explained Ding Haifeng, from the financial consultancy firm Integrity.
In 2024, China sanctioned more than 889,000 public officials for disciplinary violations.
This year, authorities also announced corruption investigations into several executives from major state-owned enterprises and a former senior official from the country’s top economic planning agency.
Beijing also handed a suspended death sentence to a former executive of the state-owned assets supervision commission.
This phase of the anti-corruption campaign comes after Chinese leader Xi Jinping declared that the country must become a “financial superpower,” in the face of growing isolation from the United States.
After coming to power in 2012, Xi launched a campaign that saw several high-ranking officials, both in government and state-owned enterprises, convicted for taking multimillion-dollar bribes.
In recent months, the campaign has expanded to sectors such as tobacco and pharmaceuticals.
