China’s ex-insurance chief snared in Xi Jinping’s war on corruption charged with taking ‘huge bribes’
Xiang Junbo, ex-head of now defunct China Insurance Regulatory Commission, charged with abuse of power for financial gain
The former head of China’s insurance watchdog, and one of the highest profile targets in President Xi Jinping’s campaign to tackle corruption in the financial industry, has been charged with corruption, state media reported on Monday.
Xiang Junbo, who had been under investigation since last year, was charged by the Changzhou People’s Procuratorate in eastern China’s Jiangsu province with using his position to further the illegal interests of others in return for “huge” bribes, People’s Daily reported.
The report did not put any values on the alleged bribes, or name any of the individuals or companies Xiang is accused of helping.
A former deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China and ex-chairman of Agricultural Bank of China, Xiang took over as head of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) in 2011. The agency no longer exists as an autonomous entity after being merged with the banking watchdog earlier this month.
In his six years in charge, the value of China’s insurance industry almost tripled, and several firms grew exponentially. Much of that expansion came after insurers were granted new permissions not only to raise short-term funds from investors via universal insurance policies, but also to buy equity stakes in listed companies and property projects, turning several of them into aggressive investors.