China will announce its top securities regulator is stepping down within days, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing officials.
The news follows a series widely-criticized policy moves overseen by Xiao Gang, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, that have been blamed for exacerbating a global stock market sell-off in recent months.
Those include a stock price "circuit breaker" mechanism that halted trade for 15 minutes if a Chinese index rose or fell 5 percent and for the rest of the day if it dropped 7 percent. That much-derided policy tool was suspended after only a week after sending jitters throughout global markets in January.
It's understood that Gang will be replaced by the current chairman of the Agricultural Bank of China, Liu Shiyu, who formerly served as the deputy governor of China's central bank.
You can read the full article here.
This story is developing.Please check back for updates.