One of the Chinese central bank’s senior-most officials has been placed under formal investigation by the country’s disciplinary authorities.
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) deputy governor Fan Yifei (范一飞) has been placed under investigation over allegations of “severe breaches of discipline and law”, according to an announcement made on the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on 5 November.
Born in 1964, Fan holds a PhD in economics from Renmin University and a Masters degree in international economics from Columbia University in the United States.
Fan is a veteran of big state-owned lender China Construction Bank (CCB), holding a range of positions in his early career including general management assistant of CCB’s trust investment company; deputy chair of CCB’s funds planning department and general manager of the financial accounts department.
In 2005 Fan was appointed vice-president and party committee member of CCB, before becoming general manager of sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) in March 2010.
In January 2015 Fan became a member of PBOC’s party committee, before assuming the role of deputy governor in February 2015.
Fan was one of the most publicly prominent of PBOC’s deputy governors, and his opinions were frequently cited by China’s state-owned financial media.
His last public appearance was in September, at the 2022 China (Beijing) Digital Finance Forum (2022年中国（北京）数字金融论坛) where he discussed the development of digital renminbi mechanisms.
In August Fan Yifei also wrote an article for “Financial News” (中国金融) in which he called for strengthening standardisation in the Chinese financial sector.