« La personne qui comprend le mieux le métier gère la conformité », Lu Xiaoping peut-elle garder la porte du contrôle des risques de Zhejiang Securities?

Production | Read Business Era

Editor | Li Xiaoyan

On April 3rd, Zheshang Securities officially announced Lü Xiaoping as Compliance Director. This veteran of Zheshang, who has won the “Zheshang Star” award four times, is not an “airborne” appointee; she previously led a team that achieved the highest per capita revenue in equity investment banking and also spearheaded market-making business at Beijing Stock Exchange, generating millions in profit. Now, taking on the banner of compliance rectification, can Lü Xiaoping transform her more than ten years of “difficult but correct” investment banking experience into the core confidence for Zheshang Securities to reshape its compliance system?

If judged solely by her resume, Lü Xiaoping is not a typical “legal-oriented” compliance leader. Her career path spans research, wealth management, institutional business, and investment banking, with experience covering almost all major risk exposure scenarios of securities firms. This background gives her a stronger ability to “penetrate business to identify risks” at a time when compliance issues are erupting, and aligns well with regulatory requirements emphasizing “substance over form” risk control.

In 2024, Lü Xiaoping received the “Zheshang Star” award for the fourth time. She believes that the significance of this award lies not in the honor itself, but in its timing—coinciding with her “double ten-year” milestone of her investment banking career and the establishment of the SME investment banking headquarters. In 2014, she shifted from familiar research, wealth, and institutional tracks to investment banking, almost “resetting” her career, and took on the task of building an SME investment banking team. At that time, this choice did not offer short-term returns, but serving small and medium-sized enterprises was a “difficult but correct” strategic direction for the company.

In practice, Lü Xiaoping gradually established a methodology of “professionalism, self-discipline, and gratitude,” viewing professional ability as the fundamental asset of investment banking, and internalizing self-discipline and compliance requirements into team behavior standards. Under her leadership, the team focused on project gradient construction and talent structure development, forming a cycle from project initiation, mentoring, to application and issuance. Meanwhile, through initiatives like the “Double Hundred Action,” they deepened regional enterprise engagement, strengthened project reserves, and enhanced client stickiness. In 2023, her investment banking line achieved leading per capita revenue, validating the effectiveness of strategic choices.

Returning to the present, Zheshang Securities faces not just isolated issues but systemic “growth outpacing internal controls” consequences. In 2025, Zheshang Securities achieved a total operating income of 8.841 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.95%; net profit attributable to parent was 2.412 billion yuan, up 24.87%. However, at the start of 2026, the compliance defense line at Zheshang Securities repeatedly failed, with issues such as improper branch management, vulnerabilities in headquarters custody and subsidiary control, rapidly exposing structural weaknesses in the compliance system.

Under the strict deadline for rectification set by regulators, time has become the most scarce resource. The advantage of internal promotion is amplified at this moment—no need for adjustment, direct implementation at the executive level. Lü Xiaoping’s familiarity with organizational structure and business processes enables her to quickly identify root causes and push for effective rectification, which forms the practical basis for her full support from the board of directors.

Of course, Lü Xiaoping’s challenges remain significant. On one hand, the rectification tasks are heavy and the cycle short, requiring compliance with rigid regulatory demands while avoiding excessive contraction of business; on the other hand, shifting from a business leader to a compliance coordinator, how to establish independence and authority, and clearly delineate boundaries between efficiency and risk, will directly determine the success of her reforms.

From an industry perspective, Zheshang Securities’ choice is somewhat representative. Under the dual pressures of stricter regulation and increasing business complexity, a compliance model based solely on legal or制度导向 is facing diminishing marginal utility. Talents with both business understanding and risk control capabilities are becoming key variables in upgrading securities firms’ compliance systems. Lü Xiaoping’s appointment is not only a response to the company’s phased problems but also an active adaptation to this trend.

From a four-time “Zheshang Star” award-winning investment banking elite to a compliance leader entrusted with critical tasks, Lü Xiaoping’s transformation reflects Zheshang Securities’ exploration of a “business-oriented compliance” model, and is also a microcosm of securities firms reshaping their compliance systems and returning to their service roots amid a cycle of strict regulation.