(Reuters) – China is expected to appoint a senior securities official to head its second-largest bourse, four sources said, filling a role that has been vacant for the unusually long period of seven months as the securities regulator reshuffled its a leadership.
Li Jizun, a civil servant who is currently director of the general office at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), is expected to become general manager of the 27-trillion-yuan ($3.73 trillion) Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the sources said.
The role is the second most senior executive position in the bourse and will see Li, whose appointment was finalised last week, move from the capital Beijing to the southern boom city of Shenzhen in the next few weeks, said two of the sources.
All the sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The CSRC and the Shenzhen bourse did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment. Li could not be immediately reached for comment.
Born in 1974, Li has headed the regulator’s general office since 2022, overseeing the day-to-day operation of the watchdog and managing the administrative affairs of its top leadership, according to the official China Securities Journal.
A former State Council official, Li began working at the CSRC in 2016, first in the research center which is primarily in charge of studying and drafting strategies for China’s capital markets and then heading the markets department which oversees infrastructure such as settlement and custody as well as risk management.
He was also deeply involved in the CSRC’s capital market reform initiatives which include the launch of Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR Market and the pilot of a U.S.-style registration system for stock market floats, China Securities Journal reported.
Li’s appointment comes after the former general manager of the bourse, Sha Yan, was promoted as its Communist Party chief in December. It is a common practice at state-owned institutions and firms that the party chief also holds the position of chairman.
Sha had worked at the securities regulator for more than two decades before taking over at the Shenzhen bourse in mid-2020, after her predecessor Wang Jianjun was promoted to the party chief role and later moved back to the regulator as a vice chairman.
It is also common practice for CSRC officials to lead one of the main stock exchanges to strengthen their credentials and leadership capabilities before they return to the regulator in a more senior position.
Wang, also a CSRC veteran, served as the director of the general office before his roles at the Shenzhen bourse.
Founded in 1990 in what was then a fishing village, the Shenzhen bourse has fast developed to become China’s largest stock market after the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and one of the world’s busiest markets for IPOs.
Shenzhen is a key tech and manufacturing hub, and the bourse has played a key role in raising funds for companies in the tech and healthcare sectors. Last year, its start-up board ChiNext took the global crown for IPO volumes, with $16.4 billion raised, according to LSEG data.
The CSRC is the midst of reorganising its own leadership.
On Tuesday, the regulator promoted Li Ming, its head of law enforcement to the role of vice chairman, replacing Fang Xinghai, which confirmed an earlier report by Reuters.
In February, Wu Qing, a former deputy party chief in the financial hub of Shanghai, took over as the CSRC chairman when the stock markets were near their lowest level in five years and after several warnings against short-selling and other steps to arrest the slide by his predecessor Yi Huiman failed.
($1 = 7.2303 renminbi)
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