Trouble at the top and bottom of China’s financial sector
The government is cracking down on crooked bankers
The protesters gathered outside the office of the banking regulator in Henan province have a simple demand: “Return our deposits.” Thousands of customers of three rural banks in the region recently discovered that they were unable to withdraw their funds. They have been cut off from at least $178m, according to Reuters, a news agency. Met with silence from local officials, many aggrieved customers descended on Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, carrying signs and chanting slogans. Videos that have circulated on Chinese social media show dozens of people kneeling in the middle of a road, disrupting traffic as they beg for their money to be returned (pictured).
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “No mercy”
From the May 28th 2022 edition
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