On August 19, the Yunnan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision announced that Xia Shu, a cadre at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics retaining deputy department-level treatment, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.
Xia Shu was born in October 1967 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, and graduated from the Department of Management Engineering at Chongqing University in 1988. He subsequently completed his master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral studies at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the School of Economics at Peking University, holding titles of senior economist and senior accountant. His career spanned construction, trust, power, investment, and banking: he previously served as head of the credit review department at CITIC Industrial Bank Chengdu Branch and assistant general manager (on secondment) at Chongqing International Trust and Investment Company, later becoming chief economist of Yunnan Power Group and vice chairman of Yunnan Provincial Investment Holding Group.
In December 2007, Xia Shu reached a major career milestone—Fudian Bank was officially established through the restructuring of Kunming City Commercial Bank, and he served as its first chairman until May 2018, a tenure of over ten years.
Fudian Bank is Yunnan Province’s only provincial city commercial bank, with its predecessor established in 1912. During Xia Shu’s tenure, he promoted the bank’s early standardized governance and business expansion, laying the foundation for subsequent development. However, in November 2014, the Yunnan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection reported that he failed to follow organizational procedures in cadre selection and appointment, resulting in an intra-Party warning.
On May 23, 2018, the bank held a cadre meeting announcing that Hong Weizhi would serve as party committee member and secretary of Fudian Bank, while Xia Shu would no longer hold these positions and would instead serve as a full-time external director of provincial state-owned enterprises.
After stepping down as head of Fudian Bank, Xia Shu was transferred to serve as a full-time external director for Yunnan provincial state-owned enterprises, later joining Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, where he served as director of the China Local Finance Research Center and retained deputy department-level treatment. He also held social positions such as理事 of the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40) and adjunct professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, continuing his involvement in financial research and academic activities.
As of the end of December 2024, Fudian Bank had assets of 405.9 billion yuan, with 193 business outlets in Yunnan and Chongqing. Through a joint venture establishing Lao-China Bank, it became the first city commercial bank to set up a joint venture bank overseas, with business covering local real economy and cross-border finance, serving Yunnan’s “three major economies” development strategy.
It is worth noting that 200 million shares of Fudian Bank held by Fujian Xintong Trading Co., Ltd. are being auctioned, with a starting price of 513 million yuan. The auction is set to begin on September 15. The equity is currently judicially frozen, with a value of 3.67 yuan per share.
Xia Shu’s investigation comes seven years after he left Fudian Bank. The specific issues of his suspected violations have not been disclosed, and the case is under further review and investigation.
