China's banking and finance chiefs purged

Zhou Xiaochuan will step down as Governor of the People’s Bank of China.

Seen as possible replacements for Zhou are Shang Fulin, head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission; Guo Shuqing, chief securities regulator; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Chairman Jiang Jianqing and Bank of China Chairman Xiao Gang.

Commerce Minister Chen Deming and Finance Minister Xie Xuren are also expected to lose their jobs, as is Zhang Ping, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency.

Vice-Premier Wang Qishan, the top finance official, will move to a new but as yet undetermined post. Wang, 64, was also appointed to the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. This means he will take the top discipline post on the standing committee.

The new appointments were made during the recent 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in Beijing.

The composition of China's new leadership, decided in the recent once-a-decade transition of power, will determine the pace of change on issues such as deregulating interest rates and breaking up state monopolies.