China banks: state purges of bankers signal weaker profits ahead

In the west, the job of government is to prop up wobbly banks. In China, the role of government is seemingly to destabilise lenders. US and European bank bosses, at worst, face losing their jobs. In China, they may lose their liberty too.

The Chinese authorities escalated their attack on Wednesday with a probe into former chair and party chief of state-owned financial conglomerate China Everbright. A one-line statement said Li Xiaopeng is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law”.