CSRC denies report that its chairman offered to resign

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has denied a report by Reuters that its chairman, Xiao Gang, had tendered his resignation, Caixin reported, citing a statement published to the commission’s official Weibo microblog account. “We have contacted Reuters and demanded they make a correction,” the regulator said. The Reuters report cited unnamed sources as saying Xiao had offered to resign last week after a new “circuit breaker” mechanism he advocated to control stock market fluctuations was scrapped when critics asserted it had exacerbated sharp sell-offs. Caixin cited another unnamed source as stating Xiao’s resignation was unlikely, since party graft inspectors had yet to finish probing the commission.