China investigates former securities regulator Fang Xinghai for discipline violations

Fang Xinghai, the former vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), is under investigation for “serious violations of Party discipline and laws.” The probe, announced on July 24, is being conducted by the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision, the two most powerful anti-corruption bodies in China. Specific charges haven’t been disclosed. Fang was one of the most internationally recognized faces of Chinese financial reform, a Stanford-educated economist who spent nearly a decade pushing to open China’s capital markets to the outside world. The reformer’s resume Fang earned his PhD in economics from Stanford University and worked at the Shanghai Stock Exchange before ascending to the CSRC vice chairmanship in October 2015. His timing was, to put it mildly, eventful. He stepped into the role just months after a massive stock market crash that wiped out trillions in value and rattled global confidence in Chinese financial governance. Over the next nine years, Fang became the CSRC’s point person for international engagement. He championed programs that broadened foreign investor access to domest...