A senior Wells Fargo banker, Chenyue Mao, has returned to the United States after being barred from leaving China for several months, following negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials.
Mao, a U.S. citizen born in Shanghai and based in Atlanta, works in Wells Fargo’s international factoring business and was recently elected chairwoman of FCI, a global factoring and trade finance group. China’s Foreign Ministry said in July she was required to cooperate with a criminal investigation before being allowed to leave, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Wells Fargo’s operations in China remain limited compared to its Wall Street peers. The bank first opened an office in Beijing in 1997, which was later closed in 2018. It currently runs branches in Shanghai and Beijing, employing around 63 people. Unlike other major U.S. banks, Wells Fargo has not established a locally incorporated unit in China, which restricts the range of services it can provide.
Mao has played a key role in expanding Wells Fargo’s international factoring business, growing annual import-factoring flows to about €2.6 billion ($3 billion). Beyond banking, the company also set up a factoring firm in Tianjin in 2012, with a branch in Shanghai that employs dozens of staff.
Wells Fargo’s wider Asia-Pacific footprint includes hubs in Hong Kong and Singapore, along with offices in Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo.
