Former Chairman of Major Chinese Life Insurer Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Corruption



Jinan, China — Wang Bin, the former chairman of one of China's largest life insurance companies, has been sentenced to life in prison after a court convicted him of corruption. Wang, aged 64, received a suspended death sentence, which will be commuted to a life term with no possibility of parole after two years, as per a ruling issued by an intermediate court in Jinan, located in China's eastern Shandong province, on Tuesday.


The court found Wang guilty of accepting bribes totaling approximately 325 million yuan (equivalent to $44.6 million) and concealing overseas deposits amounting to 56.4 million yuan (around $7.8 million), according to the court's decision.


These allegations spanned a period from 1997 to 2021, during which Wang held prominent positions in several state-owned financial institutions, including China Life Insurance, China's Bank of Communications, and China Taiping Insurance. The ruling further asserted that he covertly stashed the ill-gotten funds in bank accounts based in Hong Kong.


"The amount of bribes Wang Bin accepted was particularly substantial, the gravity of the offense was exceedingly severe, and its adverse societal impact was exceptionally grave," the court's judgment stated.


Wang is the latest high-profile executive to be ensnared in President Xi Jinping's ongoing anti-corruption campaign targeting China's vast $56 trillion financial sector. This sentencing follows more than a year after Wang, who also held the highest Communist Party position at China Life, came under investigation by the party's premier anti-graft agency.


He joins a list of numerous prominent individuals subject to Beijing's sweeping anti-corruption efforts, which includes figures like Li Xiaopeng, the former chairman of the financial conglomerate China Everbright Group, and Liu Liange, the former chairman of Bank of China, one of the nation's leading lenders. Bao Fan, a renowned investment banker, went missing in February and is believed to have become entangled in the crackdown.


Analysts contend that the crackdown on the financial industry, initiated months after Xi secured a historic third term in October 2022, primarily serves to consolidate his authority. They posit that Xi aims to centralize control over the expansive financial sector in order to address China's deepening economic challenges and prepare for a potential "financial war" with the United States.