Beijing dismisses, replaces chair of mainland securities regulator

China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman and Party Secretary Xiao Gang has been dismissed and replaced by Liu Shiyu, a former central bank official and chairman of Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), The Financial Times reported, citing state news agency Xinhua. Xiao became the public face of the stock market rescue effort made in the face of the mainland equities rally-turned-rout, in which the Shanghai Composite Index dropped by nearly half between its June 2015 peak and late January. Xiao’s replacement, Liu, took over as chair of ABC in December 2013 after having previously climbed through the central bank’s ranks to a deputy governor posting in 2006.