Top Contender for PBOC Governor Named Acting Mayor of Beijing

(Bloomberg) -- Yin Yong, who was regarded as a strong candidate to be the next governor of the People’s Bank of China, was named acting mayor of Beijing city, potentially putting him out of the race to take on the job at the central bank.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Tesla Engineers Visit Twitter Office to Review Code for Musk

• Musk Takes Twitter Helm, Enacts Sweeping Change as Deal Closes

• Mark Zuckerberg’s Wealth Wipeout Hits $100 Billion as Meta Misses Again

• Fed Seen Aggressively Hiking to 5%, Triggering Global Recession

• Twitter CEO Among Top Executives Departing as Musk Takes Over

The local legislature’s standing committee agreed on Friday to appoint Yin, currently deputy party chief in Beijing, as acting mayor of the capital city to fill in for Chen Jining, according to a report by the official Beijing Daily. Chen was earlier named new party secretary for Shanghai.

A Harvard-educated official, 53-year-old Yin was deputy PBOC governor for slightly more than a year from December 2016. Before that, he spent nearly two decades at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the agency that manages the nation’s huge reserves. He was director of the SAFE Investment Center for eight years, leading the institution through turbulent times like the shock devaluation of the Chinese currency in 2015.

Yin became Beijing’s vice mayor in January 2018, a strategic move seen by analysts as a way to prepare him for a bigger role in the government. In June this year, he was appointed one of the two deputies of Cai Qi, the top official in Beijing city, who is a key ally of President Xi Jinping.

Yin was promoted to be a full member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee during its congress over the weekend, sparking speculation he could be a contender to replace Yi Gang as the PBOC governor. Yi, who is around the official retirement age of 65 for ministerial-level officials, was dropped off the alternate member list of the Central Committee.

Another leading contender for the PBOC governor post, according to analysts, is Yi Huiman, the 57-year-old head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Liu Guiping, 56, a former deputy PBOC governor and now vice mayor of the northern port city of Tianjin, could also be a likely candidate.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• Student Debt Headaches Return for Millions Despite Biden Relief

• When Netflix and HBO Turned on Each Other, They Forged a New Era of Television

• What the Alzheimer’s Drug Breakthrough Means for Other Diseases

• Flights to Asia Are Finally Back, But Russia Airspace Bans Cause Onerous Detours

• From Bedrooms to Kitchens, Europe Ponders How Cold Is Too Cold

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.