Speaking at a Politburo group session on April 25, 2017, Xi Jinping described financial regulation as a matter of national security, with existential relevance for the Party. China's official media separately linked China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) Director Xiang Junbo’s corruption in office to his ‘liberalisation policies’ and suggested that he had condoned business practices that threatened the interests of ordinary citizens and legitimate corporations. Analysts assess that the regulatory shifts underway now will not come into full force until after the 19th Party Congress, with still sterner state control on the cards. In the short term, the campaign for reform of the financial sector will see acceleration of the merger of separate financial regulators (CSRC, CBRC, CIRC and the central bank) with the aim to develop a more robust regulatory framework. This might affect ‘RMB internationalisation’, with the Party using the conspiratorial language of ‘global financial elites’ undermining the national interest in its official media to raise the concern of capital flight. Tighter capital controls may be on the cards.