The Chinese government has placed an exit ban on FCI chair and Wells Fargo banker Chenyue Mao after she travelled to the country on business, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Mao was elected as FCI chair last month at the global factoring association’s annual meeting, and previously served as its vice-chair.
She is a managing director at Wells Fargo and spearheads the bank’s international factoring business, according to FCI’s website.
A Wells Fargo spokesperson says: “We are closely tracking this situation and working through the appropriate channels so our employee can return to the United States as soon as possible.”
Wells Fargo has since suspended staff travel to China, US media outlets reported.
Authorities in China have not commented on the ban and the reasons for it are not publicly known. Beijing has previously banned foreign business executives from leaving the country for a variety of reasons, including business disputes and investigations.
The practice has been a source of tension with the US. In a November 2024 travel advisory, the US State Department warned travellers to exercise “increased caution” when travelling to mainland China because the government “arbitrarily enforces local laws, including exit bans on US citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process under the law”.
The advisory adds that exit bans have been used to “pressure family members of the restricted individual to return to [China] from abroad” and “gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments”.
Mao was born in Shanghai and is now based in Atlanta, according to FCI.
In a June 25 statement announcing Mao’s election as chair, FCI said the banker had led Wells Fargo’s global factoring franchise for the last 10 years.
Mao said in the statement that as chair, she would “harness FCI’s unrivalled network to broaden access to receivables finance, champion progressive regulation and spark the next wave of innovation in open-account solutions”.
“Together we will go far, amplifying member growth, elevating industry standards and empowering businesses in every market we touch.”
FCI did not respond to a request for comment from GTR.
