Chairman of China Investment Corp. Resigns

(Beijing) — Ding Xuedong, chairman and CEO of Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. (CIC), has stepped down, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

It’s still not clear who will take his position at the $810 billion CIC and what Ding’s future plans are.

Ding, who was born in 1960 in the eastern province of Jiangsu, has spent most of his career as a senior official with the Ministry of Finance. He became a department director at the ministry in 1994 and was promoted to vice minister at 48. As the youngest ministerial-level official there, his duties included putting forward fiscal policy and overseeing the agricultural sector and the China Appraisal Society, an appraisal organization under the Finance Ministry.

In 2010, he became the youngest-ever deputy secretary-general of the State Council, a post he held until he was appointed CIC chairman in July 2013, succeeding Lou Jiwei, who had been named finance minister four months earlier. During Ding’s tenure at CIC, he helped set up CIC Capital Corp., a subsidiary mandated to make foreign direct investments and manage bilateral and multilateral fund investments, in January 2015.

Ding obtained a master’s degree in economics from Zhongnan University of Finance and Economics, currently known as Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, in 1985. He later received a doctoral degree in economics from the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, a university affiliated with the Finance Ministry, in 1997.

He has also been chairman of the China International Capital Corp., one of the country’s top investment banks, since October 2014.

Ding ranked No. 41 on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s 74 most powerful people in 2016, with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang finishing fourth and 12th respectively.

Contact reporter Chen Na (nachen@caixin.com)