Central Bank Of China Reshuffles Monetary Policy Committee

China's central bank announced a reshuffle of its monetary policy committee, adding securities regulator head Wu Qing, vice central bank chief Xuan Changneng, and two new academic members.

Wu Qing, who recently assumed the role of head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), replaced his predecessor Yi Huiman on the committee, according to the statement released late Tuesday.

The committee, chaired by People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng, welcomed two new academic members - Huang Yiping from Peking University and Huang Haizhou from Tsinghua University.

Huang Yiping, with a doctorate in economics from Australian National University and experience at Citi and Barclays, serves as the dean of Peking University's National School of Development. He previously sat on the PBOC policy committee from 2015 to 2018.

Huang Haizhou, a U.S.-trained economist and former senior executive at investment bank China International Capital Corporation (CICC), has taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and London School of Economics.

These new academic members replace Liu Shijin and Cai Fang, both influential government economists.

The policy panel convenes once every quarter to discuss economic and policy matters and makes recommendations for changes when deemed necessary. However, its influence remains limited.

In January, China's cabinet revised rules for the central bank policy panel to reinforce the Communist Party's leadership over key policy issues.

The People's Bank of China, amid recent regulatory shifts that diminished its powers, lacks the independence enjoyed by institutions like the U.S. Federal Reserve. Major changes in interest rates and the yuan's value require approval from the cabinet.

Governor Pan remarked at a press conference earlier this month that the central bank possesses a range of monetary policy tools and suggested that there is still room to reduce banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR).