Guo Shuqing Named Shandong Deputy Party Chief, China.com Reports

Guo Shuqing, the former chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, was appointed deputy Communist Party secretary of Shandong Province, the China.com news website reported today.

Guo, 56, said Shandong faces a critical transition period and he will work to improve people’s lives, according to the report, which cited a meeting of the provincial party committee.

The announcement comes after the Communist Party’s top two leaders, Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, took their state posts of president and premier last week, completing the country’s once-a-decade leadership transition. After leading the CSRC since 2011, Guo was replaced yesterday by former Bank of China Ltd. (3988) Chairman Xiao Gang.

Under Guo, the CSRC expanded foreign investor quotas to buy stocks, cut trading fees and pushed companies to increase dividends.

“Comrade Guo Shuqing has a firm political stand and a strong sense of the overall situation,” Shandong Party Secretary Jiang Yikang said, according to China.com. “He is honest, upright, frank and principled and is strict with himself.”

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Judy Chen in Shanghai at xchen45@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nicholas Wadhams at nwadhams@bloomberg.net