China sacks assistant head of securities regulator

The assistant chairman of China's top securities regulator has been sacked amid a corruption probe, official media said today, after months of declines in the country's stock markets.
The Communist Party's official news portal said Zhang Yujun had been "removed from his post" at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for "severe disciplinary violations" -- normally a euphemism for graft.
It cited a statement from the ruling party's secretive Organisation Department, a week after an investigation into him was announced.
The CSRC is at the centre of China's efforts to stabilise its volatile stock markets.
Authorities have intervened on a broad scale to encourage buying in an attempt to cushion a market rout which began in June and roiled exchanges worldwide.

Zhang had been one of three assistant chairmen at the CSRC since 2012, after managing the Shanghai stock exchange.

Financial news outlet Caixin reported last week that Zhang supervised firms involved in margin trading -- which allows investors to trade stocks with only a small sum of money put down as deposit, and which has been blamed for heightening volatility.
Many investors called for the CSRC's chief Xiao Gang to step down over the stock price plunge, and the investigation into Zhang has renewed online questioning about his superior.
After conducting internal graft investigations, the Communist Party can internally punish alleged offenders or expel them and pass them onto courts for trial, where conviction is virtually guaranteed.