China's new securities chief faces old constraints

Beijing

THE job of running China's securities watchdog is known by the country's media as "the volcano seat" for its potential to blow formerly glittering careers to smithereens. Xiao Gang is its latest victim. The chairman of China's Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has taken the blame for his fumbling efforts to prop up stocks. But as long as China's leaders remain reluctant to realise their pledge to give market forces a greater role, the job will remain thankless.

Mr Xiao was the obvious scapegoat for last year's spectacular boom in Chinese stocks and their subsequent bust. The benchmark CSI300 index more than doubled between November 2014 and early June 2015, and then plummeted. Though stocks have recovered some ground they remain more than 40 per cent below their peak.