An article titled "What Secrets Lie Within the More Than 18 Million Yuan in Interest?" was published on page 10 of the People's Daily on January 19, delving into the hidden corruption issues of Yi Xuefei, the former President of GRCB. The article mentioned that Yi Xuefei admitted to all criminal acts of lending money to collect interest and was also involved in other corrupt activities. The suspected crimes have been transferred to judicial authorities for review and prosecution, with a verdict expected soon.
The investigation into Yi Xuefei reportedly began in early 2023 when the Guangzhou Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection received an anonymous tip alleging that Yi Xuefei had "excessively close relationships with multiple corporate credit clients, involving suspicious financial transactions." Combined with clues uncovered during other cases, the Commission decided to conduct a comprehensive investigation into Yi Xuefei.
Investigators discovered that Yi Xuefei, well aware that direct involvement in financial transactions would leave obvious traces, opted to accept money through a lending-for-interest scheme. The principal for Yi Xuefei's loans was essentially acquired through a "shell game": he used equity held in his brother-in-law's name as collateral, and with the assistance of a long-standing loan client, applied for a 24 million yuan loan from GRCB. After he coordinated its approval and disbursement, the funds were transferred through four or five layers before finally entering his wife's account, becoming a reserve fund for illicit activities.
The article stated that whenever a company sought his assistance, Yi Xuefei would readily agree and hint that gratitude should be expressed through the lending-for-interest method.
During the investigation, professional accountants from state-owned enterprises were assembled into a specialized asset analysis team to conduct big data analysis on over 200 accounts and more than 1.6 million fund flow records under the names of Yi Xuefei and his family members.
The task force conducted verifications from three key dimensions: cross-referencing fund flows, comparing the timeline of authority exercises, and penetrating abnormal asset movements. The results showed that the timing of Yi Xuefei's approval of certain loans often coincided with him lending money to the principals of those same enterprises and collecting interest. Statistics revealed that since 2005, Yi Xuefei had collected more than 18 million yuan in interest through this scheme.
Investigators highlighted three peculiar aspects of these loans: First, borrowers opted for higher costs. The borrowing companies were of considerable size and could have secured normal bank loans at annual interest rates of 5% to 6%, yet they specifically sought personal loans from Yi Xuefei at significantly higher rates. Second, principal remained unpaid despite ability. Some business owners had paid Yi Xuefei interest far exceeding the principal amount. Despite having cash flows exceeding hundreds of millions, they never repaid the principal. Third, companies proactively raised interest rates. In one instance, Yi Xuefei and a business owner initially agreed on a 12% annual interest rate. A year later, the business owner himself proposed increasing the rate to nearly 20%.
According to the resume disclosed by GRCB, Yi Xuefei was born in November 1967. He graduated in July 1993 from Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics with a master's degree in Economics, majoring in International Economics and Trade. He obtained an EMBA from Sun Yat-sen University in 2010. Early in his career, he worked as a staff member at Jiangxi Sanbo Motor Group. After his postgraduate studies, he joined China Construction Bank (CCB), holding positions including clerk in the Accounting Department of the Second Sub-branch of the Guangzhou Branch, followed by roles as clerk, senior clerk, deputy section chief, section chief, assistant director, deputy director, and deputy department head at the Guangdong Provincial Branch. He also served as Deputy President of the Foshan Branch while concurrently serving as President of the Nanhai Sub-branch, Deputy President of the Dongguan Branch, Vice General Manager (overseeing overall operations) and later General Manager of the Planning and Finance Department of the Guangdong Provincial Branch, Director of the Asset and Liability Management Department and Director of the Restructuring and Reform Office of the Guangdong Provincial Branch, and President of the Shantou Branch.
In 2006, at the age of 39, Yi Xuefei joined the Guangzhou Rural Credit Cooperative Union as a Deputy Director. In 2009, when the Union was restructured into GRCB, Yi Xuefei continued as a Deputy President. He later succeeded Wang Jikang, who had been promoted to Chairman, becoming the Bank's President in 2013. Previous reports noted that Yi Xuefei and Wang Jikang had worked together for 13 years since the credit union era. When Wang Jikang was investigated, Yi Xuefei temporarily assumed the duties of Chairman.
In early 2023, news spread that Yi Xuefei had not reported for work. It was only after public reports emerged that GRCB issued an announcement stating that Yi Xuefei would no longer perform the duties of President due to exceeding the job rotation term limit. It wasn't until March 2024 that Yi Xuefei, then serving as a full-time external director for Guangzhou Metro Group Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Communication Investment Group Co., Ltd., was placed under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.
It was noted that during the tenure of the duo Wang Jikang and Yi Xuefei at the helm of GRCB, the Bank successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2017. In July 2018, GRCB publicly disclosed its plan to list on the A-share market and filed its preliminary prospectus in March 2019, though this goal remains unfulfilled. During this period, Wang Jikang was transferred in July 2019 to serve as a full-time external director for a Guangzhou municipal state-owned enterprise and was subsequently investigated in August 2019.
According to data disclosed in GRCB's annual reports, Yi Xuefei's compensation from 2016 to 2023 was 445,800 yuan, 782,100 yuan, 920,900 yuan, 1.3719 million yuan, 1.374 million yuan, 1.109 million yuan, 1.085 million yuan, and 239,000 yuan (term ended February 20, 2023), respectively.