Pay, promotions, probes: Why regulators jump ship
Yao Yudong, head of the Research Institute of Finance and Banking at the People's Bank of China (PBOC), confirmed on Wednesday that he will leave the central bank to become chief economist at the Shenzhen-based asset manager Dacheng Fund.
Yao's official departure will take time as he is going through the audit procedures for his resignation. Yao's new job may pay more than 1 million yuan ($151,000) annually, news portal yicai.com said Wednesday.
It's not the first time that Dacheng Fund has snared a central government official. In December 2014, Zhou Jiannan, vice director of the Department of Public Offering Supervision of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), joined Dacheng as its Party chief.
The CSRC lost many of its officials in a wave of departures that started in 2014. In early June this year alone, the CSRC approved the resignations of five long-serving officials.
The PBOC has also seen an exodus of top talent. Three of eight directors of the Payment System Department resigned at the same time and four or five of the others have submitted applications to leave, domestic news portal qq.com reported on July 15.
Among the three who have already departed, one went to a Beijing-based State-owned investment company, one joined the China Central Depository & Clearing Co, and the other will work as a vice president of a note exchange that is under construction, the report noted.
As the Payment System Department is closely involved with the market, it is easier for its employees to hop into financial institutions, either State-owned or private, according to industry analysts.
Behind the resignation wave, why do an increasing number of top talents choose to work in the financial industry instead of remaining in regulatory roles? Observers cite several reasons.
For one thing, "mass entrepreneurship and mass innovation" as supported by the central government provides more opportunities for Chinese to start their own business or make money in other ways than salaried positions in the civil service.
It's a crucial moment in China's economic transformation, and this policy has motivated some civil servants to leave the administrative system and join the market economy.
For civil servants in local governments, promotions are few and. People with management skills and government work experience are welcomed by companies that offer more lucrative career paths.
Finally, sanalysts said, the nation's anti-corruption campaign is definitely having an impact on some civil servants' personal incomes. After these officials jump to financial institutions, their annual official salaries are likely to increase six or seven times.
Departures of officials may pose many challenges to the regulators such as the lack of talents, and government organs are now stepping up efforts to address the issue including trying to guarantee warefares that civil servants are deserved to obtain.
Companies are fond of such group of civil servants as they are well trained in the administrative system and have adequate interpersonal connection, which could facilitate their work in the industry.
