In yet another embarrassing scandal involving the mainland's banking system, Tao Liming, president of the Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), was taken into custody on suspicion of having committed economic crimes.
The investigation, coming close on the heels of the detention of a senior official at Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), underlined the importance of cleaning up the mainland's banks, some of which have been plagued by reckless loans and misappropriation of assets.
Beijing-based PSBC, the nation's seventh-largest lender by assets, said in a statement yesterday that Tao, along with Chen Hongping, chief of an asset operation division, were assisting investigations into suspected economic crimes.
Two weeks ago the Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog detained Yang Kun, an executive vice-president of ABC - one of the country's Big Four lenders - as part of an investigation into illegal gambling operations and corruption.
Tao was placed under shuanggui - a disciplinary system for party members outside the legal system - according to a person close to the PSBC, adding that 'no signs are showing that his problem is related to Yang's case'.
Shuanggui, equivalent to house arrest, is normally initiated against a senior government or state-owned company official after the anti-graft body collects sufficient evidence of any wrongdoing.
He Juxin, an official with China Minsheng Banking Corp, has also been detained by Beijing police in connection with Yang's case.