China securities official expected to lead Shenzhen stock exchange, Reuters reports

China is expected to appoint a senior securities official to head its second-largest bourse, four sources said, filling a role that has been vacant for the unusually long period of seven months as the securities regulator reshuffled its leadership.

Li Jizun, a civil servant who is now director of the general office at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), is set to become general manager of the 27-trillion-yuan ($3.73-trillion) Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the sources said.

The role is the exchange's second most senior executive position and will see Li, whose appointment was finalized last week, move from the capital Beijing to the southern boom city of Shenzhen in the next few weeks, said two of the sources.

All the sources declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The CSRC and the Shenzhen exchange did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment. Li could not be immediately reached for comment.

Born in 1974, Li has headed the regulator's general office since 2022, overseeing day-to-day operations and managing the administrative affairs of its top leadership, according to one of the sources familiar with the matter and Chinese media.

A former State Council official, Li began working at the CSRC in 2016, first in the research center mainly charged with studying and drafting strategies for capital markets and then heading the markets department overseeing infrastructure such as settlement and custody as well as risk management.

He was also deeply involved in the CSRC's capital market reform measures that include the launch of Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR Market and the pilot of a U.S.-style registration system for stock market floats, domestic media said.

Li's appointment