Bank of China’s Xiao named top securities regulator

The appointment of Xiao Gang, the former chairman of Bank of China, as the mainland’s top securities regulator suggests that officials in Beijing are keen to preserve the status quo during the critical first few years of the new leadership.

Xiao is known as a prudent and cautious figure. As much as China’s freshman leaders want to improve the functioning of the country’s capital markets, their new chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission CSRC is expected to prioritise the country’s existing financial order.

However, as all China’s senior appointments are made behind closed doors, outsiders can only speculate about the real meaning behind such decisions....