The President and Vice Chairman of the Bank of China (BOC), Liu Jin, formally resigned without any warning on August 25, just five months after being reappointed by the Chinese regime to the position. In a statement, the bank only said that Liu took the step over “personal reasons,” but didn’t deliver any other comment about his resignation or the reasons behind of it.
Some political analysts explained that while everything related to Liu’s resignation remains unclear, it was impossible to rule out the possibility that the Chinese regime suddenly wanted to replace him. Experts on China like Robert Stekman said that the presidency of the BOC is one of the most prestigious and powerful positions in the Asian nation and that many of Liu’s predecessors usually lasted many years in the role.
Liu was officially appointed by the Chinese regime to take the reigns of one of China’s most important banks back in 2021, after spending most of his career in the presidency of other banking institutions in the country. At that time, Chinese authorities choose him as the Communist Party’s Deputy Chief for the financial institution. Some Western journalists in China described the move as a “revolution within the revolution,” as Liu has always been considered a moderate, unlike some of his predecessors.
On his Twitter account, geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer explained Liu became the BOC’s president at a delicate moment for the bank, as it made some disastrous crude oil investments that didn’t pay off. Another problem that the financial institution was dealing with back then was a management “talent crunch,” which created a perfect storm where many investors lost their funds without the bank being able to properly respond.
The situation created a crisis within the Communist Party, which feared a revolt if the problem kept escalating and people started to see their finances being affected because of the bank’s inefficiency and mistakes. While the Chinese regime decided to solve the problem by choosing Liu as the new bank’s leader, it didn’t detail the total amount of money that many investors lost. However, some industry analysts and independent journalists said that the damage investors suffered was nearly three billion dollars.
Following Liu’s resignation, China’s Communist Party said in a statement that it respected his decision and that the party’s Secretary General Ge Haijjao will replace Liu momentarily until authorities find a proper permanent replacement.
Independent journalists said that Liu started to have some problems with the party in 2023, when Chinese authorities announced they were investigating the bank’s chairman Liu Liange over some corruption allegations. While he decided to step down a couple of months later, after claiming that he did nothing wrong, he pleaded guilty in April 2024 to accepting nearly $20 million in bribes.
