China to target self-styled financial elites with ‘extravagant’ lifestyles in anti-corruption campaign

Name: Chinese billionaire tech banker Bao Fan reportedly missing, sending Renaissance shares tumbling
Uploaded: 2023-02-24T01:00:13.000Z
Duration: 1 min 13 s
Description: Chinese billionaire tech banker Bao Fan reportedly missing, sending Renaissance shares tumbling

Any claim that senior officials and executives are exempt from party edicts urging them to lead a simple life should be rejected, article says

Watchdog vows to target state enterprise leaders who falter in their obedience to central authorities

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China’s corruption watchdog has outlined new targets, including executives displaying extravagance and proclaiming to be financial elites and state enterprise leaders deemed negligent or insufficiently strict. Photo: AFP

Josephine Ma

Published: 9:00am, 24 Feb 2023

China’s corruption watchdog has vowed to escalate its anti-graft campaign against misconduct, including cracking down on executives who see themselves as financial elites and have “extravagant” lifestyles.

According to a new article penned by Chinese officials, graft investigators and prosecutors should “deepen” their understanding of misbehaviour in the financial sector and state enterprises as well as their associated industries by “sternly rejecting” any claim that senior officials or executives are elites exempt from party edicts urging them to lead a simple life.

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Chinese billionaire tech banker Bao Fan reportedly missing, sending Renaissance shares tumbling

The article was written by a department in charge of investigations under the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s top watchdog.

“[We should] reject any wrong theories such as [these executives] should be exempted, that they are special, superior, or they are not relevant [to politics] or such practices are required by their industries,” said the article published on the National Supervisory Commission website on Thursday.

“We should also dismiss wrong theories about financial elites, that only money matters and that we should align with the West. We should clamp down on hedonism and extravagance, such as the excessive pursuit of elegance and sophistication.”

The warning comes amid China’s ongoing campaign against senior officials in the financial sector. A multitude of senior officials and executives from banks and financial institutions, and across central and local levels, have been probed.

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