A woman walks through the gates of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on August 20, 2020 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
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China is expected to appoint a senior securities official to lead its second-largest exchange, four sources said, filling a role that has been vacant for an extraordinary seven months as the securities regulator reshuffles its leadership.
Li Jizun, a civil servant who is currently director of the public office at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), is set to become the general manager of the 27 trillion yuan ($3.73 trillion) Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the source said.
The role is the second most senior executive position at the exchange and will see Li, whose appointment ended last week, move from the capital Beijing to the booming southern city of Shenzhen in the next few weeks, the two sources said.
All sources are anonymous because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
CSRC and the Shenzhen exchange did not immediately respond to faxed requests for comment. Li could not immediately be reached for comment.
Born in 1974, Li has led the regulator’s general office since 2022, overseeing day-to-day operations and managing the administrative affairs of top leaders, according to one source familiar with the matter and Chinese media.
A former State Council official, Li began working at the CSRC in 2016, first in a research center mainly tasked with studying and formulating strategies for the capital market and then as a market department that oversees infrastructure such as settlement and detention as well as risk management.
He is also heavily involved in the CSRC’s capital market reform measures that include the launch of the Nasdaq Shanghai-style STAR Market and the pilot of a US-style registration system for stock market floats, domestic media said.
Li’s appointment comes after the exchange’s former general manager, Sha Yan, was promoted to head of the Communist Party in December.
It is common practice in state institutions and companies for the party chairman to also hold the position of chairman.
Sha had worked at the securities regulator for more than two decades before taking over at the Shenzhen exchange in mid-2020, after his predecessor Wang Jianjun was promoted to party chief before returning to the regulator as vice chairman.
It is also common practice for CSRC officials to head one of the major stock exchanges to strengthen their leadership credentials and capabilities before returning to the regulator in a more senior position.
Wang, also a CSRC veteran, was director of the public office before his position at the Shenzhen stock exchange.
Founded in 1990 in a fishing village, the Shenzhen exchange quickly developed into China’s largest stock market after the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and one of the world’s busiest markets for IPOs.
Shenzhen is a major technology and manufacturing hub, and the exchange plays an important role in raising funds for companies in the technology and healthcare sectors.
Last year, the ChiNext startup board took the global crown for IPO volume, with $16.4 billion raised, LSEG data shows.
The CSRC is in the midst of reorganizing its own leadership.
On Tuesday, the regulator promoted Li Ming, head of law enforcement, to vice chairman, replacing Fang Xinghai, in a move that confirmed earlier reports by Reuters.
In February, Wu Qing, a former vice chairman of the party in the financial center of Shanghai, took over as chairman of the CSRC when the stock market was near its lowest in five years and after several warnings against short-selling and other measures to arrest the slide. ancestor Yi Huiman failed.
