Overview

• Wells Fargo announced it has suspended all corporate travel to China after its managing director, Chenyue Mao, was prevented from leaving the country under an exit ban.
• Mao, who leads the bank’s international factoring division and serves as chairwoman of Factors Chain International, was stopped at the border following her arrival this month for business.
• The U.S. Embassy in Beijing has lodged a formal protest with Chinese authorities and urged them to lift the ban so that she can return home.
• Beijing has increasingly relied on exit bans in civil and criminal matters to detain foreign executives without transparent judicial processes.
• Multinational firms are reevaluating China travel protocols and tightening risk controls over employee movements in response to unpredictable enforcement.