In recent times, there has been an intense exposure of the movements of descendants of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) veterans. Hu Zhizhi, who previously served as the Vice Chairman of China Region at Credit Suisse, has now been appointed as the Vice Chairman of UBS Securities Limited. She is the granddaughter of former CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang and her father is Hu Deping.
Several Chinese media outlets reported that on July 11th, Hu Zhizhi joined UBS Securities and was approved by the shareholders’ meeting and the board of directors to serve as the Vice Chairman of UBS Securities starting from the 11th.
Prior to this high-level personnel change, UBS had acquired Credit Suisse and completed the restructuring of its securities business in China.
UBS Securities is the first joint venture securities company in China to be majority-owned by foreign capital and hold a full license. Currently, it is owned 67% by UBS AG and 33% by Beijing State-owned Assets Operation Co., Ltd. The previous shareholding structure of Credit Suisse Securities (China) was 51% held by Credit Suisse and 49% held by Founder Securities.
According to reports from Caixin, after the merger of UBS and Credit Suisse, both UBS Securities and Credit Suisse Securities in China will be controlled by the same shareholder, UBS Group. The report mentioned that previously UBS Securities did not have the position of Vice Chairman, which is now newly established for Hu Zhizhi.
Currently, the Chairman of UBS Securities is Qian Yudun, and the General Manager is Chen An.
Public records show that Hu Zhizhi, granddaughter of former CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang and daughter of former Deputy Minister of the United Front Work Department Hu Deping, joined Credit Suisse in 2001 and has held various positions including Head of Investment Banking in China, Vice Chairman of Credit Suisse China, CEO of Credit Suisse China, and Chairman of Credit Suisse Securities (China).
As CCP leader Xi Jinping continues to centralize power, the younger generation of the so-called “princelings” families of CCP veterans are gradually being marginalized, with only a few remaining in the political arena.
Over the past year, the movements of several descendants of CCP veterans have been revealed.
On April 18th this year, Hong Kong media “Sing Tao Daily” reported that Deng Xiaoping’s son Deng Zhifang’s grandson Deng Zhuodi had become a supervisor at CITIC Financial Limited. CITIC Finance is a subsidiary of the central enterprise CITIC Group.
Deng Zhuodi previously served as Deputy Secretary of the County Party Committee in Pingguo County, Baise City, Guangxi, but his whereabouts have been unknown since he stepped down in 2016.
On January 18th, Caixin reported that Li Tong, the CEO of Bank of China International Holdings Limited, has resigned from the company, possibly due to a narrowing of his authority after a management restructuring. Li Tong, aged 54, is the daughter of former CCP Politburo Standing Committee member Li Changchun and had served at Bank of China International for about 19 years, being promoted from Executive Director to CEO in 2011.
On January 16th this year, Hu Jintao’s son Hu Haifeng was appointed as the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Hu Haifeng previously served as the Secretary of the Liushui City Committee of Zhejiang Province and has had several unsuccessful promotion attempts before. Speculations arose due to Hu Jintao being forcibly removed from the venue during the closing ceremony of the CCP 20th National Congress on October 22nd two years ago.
On December 12th, 2023, Shanghai Electric Group appointed Wu Lei as the Party Secretary of the group and nominated him as a candidate for Chairman. Wu Lei is the son of former CCP Politburo Standing Committee member Wu Bangguo.
On November 20th, 2023, Caixin reported that Liu Chunhang, who was previously the head of the Technology Regulatory Department of the newly established China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, was appointed. Liu Chunhang, the husband of Wen Ruchun (daughter of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao), had worked in financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley. In 2006, Liu Chunhang joined the CBIRC, serving as Deputy Director and Director of the Statistics Department, Director of the Policy Research Office, and later as the head of the Statistics and Risk Monitoring Department.