Reformist Guo Shuqing to head new financial regulator

Veteran banking regulator and well-known reform advocate Guo Shuqing has been appointed as chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, sources told Caixin Global, a new watchdog merged from the separate banking and insurance watchdogs during the government’s recent shakeup.

Guo, 61, has headed the China Banking Regulatory Commission for just over a year. He will join ranks with other reform-minded economists such as Liu He, newly appointed vice premier, and finance minister Liu Kun, as Beijing continues its cleaning up of the financial system.

Among Guo’s challenges as head of the commission is close oversight and restriction of China’s growing shadow-banking sector, as well as increasing risk in the country’s RMB 16.7 trillion insurance industry.