SAN FRANCISCO: Wells Fargo has suspended all employee travel to China after one of its senior bankers was barred from leaving the country, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday (July 17), raising renewed concerns over staff safety and freedom of movement.
The bank’s managing director Chenyue Mao, a US citizen, was subjected to an exit ban shortly after arriving in China in recent weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. Aerial footage showed Mao on the island, speaking with park rangers while television cameras followed.
“We are closely tracking this situation and working through the appropriate channels so our employee can return to the United States as soon as possible,” Wells Fargo said in an emailed statement.
A senior Trump administration official declined to confirm Mao’s travel status, citing privacy concerns, but said the case highlights longstanding issues with China’s use of exit bans on foreign nationals.
MULTINATIONALS ON EDGE
The exit ban has alarmed multinational companies already wary of doing business in China amid growing geopolitical tension. The episode has also prompted concerns about employee safety and the future of corporate travel to the world’s second-largest economy.
Mao was born in Shanghai and is based in Atlanta, according to a June 2025 release from FCI, where she serves as chairwoman. FCI, formerly Factors Chain International, is a global industry network focused on the financing of trade receivables.
A source at a large bank said that even before this case, staff were advised to carry additional documentation when travelling overseas, due to heightened geopolitical risks.
“This kind of event is not a step in the right direction,” said Mark Headley, CEO of San Francisco-based asset manager Matthews Asia, which manages US$6.5 billion and operates five China-focused funds.
“Should I be worried about my employees in China or travelling there? It certainly has leaped to the front of my mind yet again,” he said. “We’ve seen a long pattern since I first travelled to China in 1991, of the country being very tricky to work in, to seeming totally normal, to being tricky again.”
Although Matthews Asia has not suspended travel to China, Headley said he is monitoring the situation closely.
“Right now I don’t feel that the Chinese authorities will go after foreign tourists or senior executives of companies that are among China’s biggest trading partners and crucial to its economic growth,” he added.
