In recent times, the financial system has really been unsettled, one after another.
Not long after the mass rights protection incidents triggered by thunderstorms in many village and township banks in Henan, the rumors that CICC traders born in the 1990s earn more than 80,000 RMB per month have spread all over the Internet again. In the face of serious difficulties in economic growth, many people’s incomes have been greatly affected. Under the influence of the situation, it is particularly eye-catching.
But apart from these two incidents, the anti-corruption storm this year is the biggest thing in China's financial system.
According to "China News Weekly" in the article "Financial anti-corruption continues to exert force, this bank vice president was approved for "escape-style resignation"", "From the beginning of the year to July 13, at least 34 financial master rats were arrested", "These 34 financial experts involve 16 people in the banking system, 12 people in the regulatory department, and 6 people in the insurance field."
From July 13th to the present, according to the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission of the Central Committee, the cadres of the central party and state organs, state-owned enterprises and financial units have recently disclosed that there have recently included the former secretary of the party committee and chairman of CITIC Zhengye Holding Group Co., Ltd. Liu Ming and China Everbright. At least 8 financial experts, including Chen Shuang, the former secretary of the party committee and chief executive of the holding company, were arrested.
Financial anti-corruption storm is coming
The gray line of the grass snake, the pulse is thousands of miles away.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, anti-corruption has become a high-profile national task.
During the five-year period from the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Wang Qishan, the then secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, led the anti-corruption campaign with remarkable results. Regardless of the scale and intensity, it hit a record high in decades, effectively curbing the trend of corruption.
At that time, many corrupt officials were also arrested in the financial system. For example, Yao Gang, the then vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, who was called the "trial emperor" by outsiders who were sacked in 2015, and Xiang Junbo, the then chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, who was investigated in 2017.
In 2017, Xi Jinping listed "the battle to prevent and resolve major risks" in the "three major battles" and wrote it into the report of the 19th National Congress.
Later, Xi Jinping repeatedly requested at the plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to "do a good job in the coordination of financial anti-corruption and financial risk disposal, and strengthen supervision and internal governance in the financial sector."
Against this background, starting in October last year, the CCP dispatched 15 central inspection teams to conduct a two-month inspection of 25 financial units including the Central Bank, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the Bank of China.
This is the first central inspection of the financial sector since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
On February 21 this year, the CCP held a centralized feedback meeting on the central inspection of the financial system, criticizing "some units "relying on finance to eat finance", and the risks of integrity in important positions, key areas and key links are relatively prominent, and they violate the eight central It stipulates that there are many reflections on spiritual problems, and formalism, bureaucracy and extravagance are still prominent."
[Financial anti-corruption] At least 11 people in the mainland financial system were sacked last month, and nearly half of the cadres were from Shanxi [Financial anti-corruption] Hu Huaibang, the former chairman of China Development Bank, was arrested on suspicion of taking bribes Takeover team members sacked
Accompanying it is that this year, officials in the financial system have been sacked very intensively, covering regulators and state-owned financial institutions.
At the regulatory level, for example, on January 4, the former director of the People's Bank of China Service Center, Mu Shangang, was investigated; on January 11, Lai Yongtian, deputy director of the Asset Management Department of the Ministry of Finance, was investigated; on February 7, the Kunming Central Branch of the People's Bank of China was investigated. Former President Yang Xiaoping was investigated. On April 2, Jiang Liming, the former director of the Supervision Department of Rural Small and Medium Financial Institutions of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, was investigated. On May 18, Sun Guofeng, former director of the Monetary Policy Department of the Central Bank, was investigated. The former director Feng Henian.
At the level of state-owned financial institutions, including Zhang Huayu, former vice president of China Everbright Bank, Wang Bin, chairman of China Life Group, Li Li, president of Beijing Branch of China Export-Import Bank, Wang Ye, former president of China Construction Bank Shenzhen Branch, and former China Merchants Bank A group of senior executives, including Nagata Huiyu, have been sacked.
On July 15 alone, Lu Jun, the former deputy director of the China Development Bank Development Fund Management Department, Zhou Jie, the former vice president of the Guangdong Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Zhang Sen, the former president of the China Construction Bank Gansu Jiuquan Branch, were arrested at the same time. check.
Cai Esheng, the former vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, was expelled from the party. After he retired from Chinese officialdom in 2013, he opened a number of companies in Hong Kong related to the name of the United Nations "South-South Cooperation".
(Photo from the website of the South-South Cooperation Financial Center)
"Relying on Finance to Eat Finance" Behind the Storm
In just a few months, so many financial officials and senior executives of financial institutions in China have been sacked, covering important positions in many fields and institutions. This not only shows the determination of financial anti-corruption, but also exposes the deep-seated problems in the financial system.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, Ren Jianming, a professor at the School of Public Administration of Beihang University, said in an interview that
financial corruption in China has accumulated for many years, and the phenomenon of corruption has been spread through the selection and appointment system. Their attitudes and values have been seriously alienated. As the financial system has gradually become the focus of anti-corruption work in the past two years, the government has stepped up its investigation and punishment, and problems in this field have been exposed more intensively.
Some people say that where there is oil and water, it is easy to slip, especially the financial system as the industry closest to money and the temptation.
Wang Jun, director of the China Chief Economist Forum, once told China News Weekly that the financial industry's characteristics of operating currency and operating risks are very easy to breed corruption.
Economist Xiang Songzuo told "China News Weekly": "The financial industry is relatively special. It is always in the position of "Party A" in the national economic system and is the provider of funds.
In the national economic chain, the financial industry is in the highest position. Strong control over capital allocation. This is an objective reason why the financial industry is more prone to corruption than other industries.
” Xiang Songzuo analyzed: “Monopoly easily breeds corruption. To enter the financial industry requires a license, business requires a license, and Under the supervision, some officials often use the power of license issuance, business licensing, business approval or supervision to conduct power and money transactions.”
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection's briefing on financial sack officials also illustrates the problem.
On June 26, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection stated that Cai Jiangting, a former first-level inspector of the Law and Regulation Department of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, was dismissed from public office: "Cai Jiangting relies on supervision and supervision, seriously disrupting the order of the financial market, and taking advantage of her position to buy shares in financial institutions in violation of regulations for profit." On July 4, when the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection informed that Zhang Huayu, the former deputy secretary of the party committee and vice president of China Everbright Bank, had been expelled from the party, it pointed out that Zhang Huayu "used his power to illegally arrange dozens of sons, sons-in-law, younger brothers and other relatives and children of relatives to the Everbright system. Work, to seek benefits for many people in terms of job promotion, job transfer, etc.”, “Seeking benefits for related companies when you are on the job, resigning on the eve of retirement, and receiving high salaries in companies that have business connections with the original position after resignation, is “early nesting.” "The typical example of 'fleeing resignation' of corruption is the connection between power and capital and the frantic pursuit of profit.
On July 20, the Central Discipline Inspection Commission's report on the expulsion of Han Yi, the former director of the Shanghai Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, pointed out that Han Yi "is dedicated to seeking personal treatment; Alienation becomes a bargaining chip for the exchange of interests.”
Controlling the "money bag": Let the financial industry develop healthily
In the Chinese economic system, the financial industry plays a pivotal role in economic activities because it belongs to the "pocket of money".
As early as the 1990s, Deng Xiaoping said: "Finance is very important, and finance is the core of the modern economy. When finance is done well, one move can make everything work." Wang Qishan, who is proficient in financial governance, said: " When
all industries are prosperous, finance is prosperous; when all industries are stable, finance is stable.”
This actually shows that the financial industry plays a certain core role in the development of modern economy, but at the same time, the healthy development of the financial industry must serve the entity as a variety of industries. Otherwise, once the development of the financial industry is separated from the entity and grows savagely, it will inevitably destroy the lifeline of the economy and create a crisis.
In the past few years, the U.S. economy's derealization and financial bubbles are a profound lesson for China.
In the same situation, although the Chinese economy is still based on the real economy as a whole, in the process of rapid growth in the past few years, there have indeed been signs of derealization and financial bubbles. The chaos in the financial industry has been accumulating and constantly hindering the people. With the healthy development of the economy, the public is dissatisfied with the corruption, profiteering, distortion of human nature and alienation in the financial circle.
Regardless of the intensive thunderstorms of P2P, the accident of many village banks in Henan, or the financial risks accumulated by some financial institutions, high interest rates, fundraising and high leverage, or the fatal damage to the healthy development of the financial industry caused by the corruption of the financial system, they are all warnings at the moment. China urgently needs to regulate and rectify the financial industry to prevent problems before they occur.
Earlier this year, "Hong Kong 01" said in the article "The Financial Risk Situation is Severe, 'Money Bags' Under Pressure Chinese Financial Leaders Meet the Anti-Corruption Storm": "The CCP's anti-corruption target is set in the financial sector, an important reason is that it includes financial The entire financial system, including taxation, the stock market, and the stock market is the "money bag" of the Chinese government. Due to the superposition of many factors such as the epidemic and the international situation, the Chinese government is currently facing unprecedented financial pressures. The 2021 Central Economic Work Conference of the Communist Party of China pointed out that the Chinese economy Currently facing three major challenges: shrinking demand, supply shock, and weakening expectations, and their impact on development momentum cannot be underestimated. To combat the epidemic, reforms in various fields, employment, national defense, education and medical care, and fertility improvement and other fields and policies All of them have reached a stage that requires a large amount of financial investment. Whether the "big rat" can be prevented from running rampant and the stability of the "money bag" can be ensured, which will directly determine whether the Chinese government can tide over the difficulties under the economic downturn."
After experiencing the economic downturn in April and May this year and the impact of the Shanghai epidemic, China now needs to severely punish the chaos and corruption in the financial system to stabilize the "money bag" and facilitate economic recovery.
From this logic, the anti-corruption storm in the financial system this year has become very necessary. Next, while fighting against the financial rat, we should also strive to establish a long-term institutional anti-corruption system for supervision and supervision.
China Development Bank’s anti-corruption work continues. Fu Xiaodong, former president of Henan Branch, was investigated for serious violations of laws and regulations. Village Banks | Responsible for the supervision of small and medium-sized rural financial institutions, former deputy director of Henan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau was investigated.