Shanghai-born and Atlanta-based Chenyue Mao, a Wells Fargo managing director who works in trade financing, has been blocked from leaving China after traveling there recently.
Mao was subjected to an exit ban after she entered China sometime in recent weeks. An automated reply from her corporate email account said she was traveling internationally on business.
The reason for her travel to China couldn’t be determined.
Mao attended an industry conference in Brazil in late June. It couldn’t be determined precisely when Mao entered China, or what prompted the travel restriction.
Wells Fargo has suspended all travel to China following Mao’s exit ban.
In a statement, Wells Fargo said it is “closely tracking this situation and working through the appropriate channels so our employee can return to the United States as soon as possible.”
Mao is a longtime specialist in international factoring, a process of exporters in one country selling unpaid invoices to third parties, who then collect payments later from importers in another country. She has worked and interacted with Chinese companies and industry groups on trade financing and international factoring matters. She sometimes traveled to China for business.
Mao is also chairwoman of FCI, formerly known as Factors Chain International, a global network of companies that do business in the factoring and financing of trade receivables. She was elected to the role in late June, at an FCI annual meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
Mao had been active on her LinkedIn account as recently as around two weeks ago, when she acknowledged congratulatory messages on her election as FCI chair.
wsj.com/world/china/we