China names new financial regulators

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China announced a series of changes to its top economic regulatory posts Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency said, the first big step in a comprehensive leadership reshuffle that will culminate next year. Shang Fulin, currently the securities regulator, has been named chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), replacing Liu Mingkang. Ex-China Construction Bank chairman Guo Shuqing will take up the post of chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Ex-Agricultural Bank of China chairman Xiang Junbo will take up the post of chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. The changes mark the highest-profile personnel swaps to be made as a part of a broad leadership turnover that will run through the next 17 months and see China's President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao hand over power to a younger generation of leaders. Hu and Wen are due to retire their Communist Party posts at the 18th Congress next fall, and their presidency and premiership positions at a parliament session in March 2013. -Reuters Maruti Q2 profit falls 60pc Maruti Suzuki, India's top carmaker, posted a wider-than-expected 60 per cent fall in its quarterly profit, hit by a labour unrest and rising interest rates and vehicle costs that have hurt demand in Asia's third-largest economy. Maruti, 54.2-per cent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp , said last week it had resolved the labour unrest at its plant in north India that had crippled production and sent sales tumbling. Maruti said Saturday net profit in its fiscal second quarter that ended on Sept. 30 dropped to 2.40 billion rupees ($49 million) from 5.98 billion rupees reported in the same period a year ago. A Reuters poll of brokerages had expected Maruti to post a net profit of 4.06 billion rupees. Shares in Maruti, which has a market value of $6.6 billion, have fallen nearly 21 per cent this year, in line with a fall in rival Tata Motors shares but more than a 13 per cent drop in the Mumbai market. -Reuters