Biden’s financial regulators give China-backed brokers a hand, but who is surprised?

This article originally appeared in the Washington Times on July 13, 2023

When it comes to the threat posed to America by the Chinese government, one thing has become abundantly clear: The Chinese Communist Party is no longer simply trying to compete with American companies — it’s trying to eliminate them.

Someone might want to inform U.S. financial regulators, who these days seem more willing to legitimize CCP-backed companies than to prevent them from further infiltrating the U.S. financial system.

Take the emergence of Chinese-owned broker-dealers in U.S. capital markets. Webull, for example, operates a retail stock trading platform that is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, known as FINRA.

Sounds safe and trustworthy, right? But upon closer inspection, Webull admits that it’s “both a U.S. and Chinese company.” Webull is owned by Hunan Fumi Information Technology Co., which has ties to the Chinese telecommunications giant Xiaomi, a company that reportedly assisted the CCP’s efforts to surveil and suppress Chinese citizens. Webull also has offices and employees — including FINRA “registered representatives” and technologists — in China.

Read the full op-ed in the Washington Times here.