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Mao's exit ban may deter corporate travel to China

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Mao is a U.S. citizen and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) managing director

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China increasingly uses exit bans in civil and criminal

cases

(Updates story published on July 17 to add comments China's

foreign ministry made on July 18 in paragraph 4)

By Manya Saini, Nupur Anand and Suzanne McGee

July 17 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo ( WFC ) has suspended

all travel to China after a banker was blocked from leaving the

country, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on

Thursday, causing broader anxiety about the risks of travel in

the country.

The U.S. banking giant's Chenyue Mao was subjected to an

exit ban after she entered China in recent weeks, the Wall

Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the

matter.

"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 ( WFC ) said in a

statement emailed to Reuters.

China's foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a

press briefing on Friday that he was not familiar with the Wells

Fargo ( WFC ) matter, adding that China was committed to providing a

welcoming environment for foreign companies to do business.

A senior Trump administration official on Thursday said they

could not comment on the reports of Mao being refused permission

to leave China, citing privacy considerations.

The ban could worsen concerns among multinational companies

about the risks of doing business in China, particularly around

employee safety and freedom of movement. The incident could also

chill corporate travel to the country and complicate relations

between the world's two biggest economies.

Broader U.S.-China relations remain tense, shaped by

deepening strategic, economic, and geopolitical rivalries.

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 named Factors Chain International, is

a global network of companies that do business in the factoring

and financing of trade receivables.

Even before the incident with the Wells Fargo ( WFC ) employee, some

of the large banks had been asking their employees to exercise

more caution while traveling overseas by carrying additional

documents, considering the geopolitical risks and some concerns

around immigration policies, a source at a large bank said.

"This kind of event is not a step in the right direction,"

said Mark Headley, co-founder and CEO of Matthews Asia, a San

Francisco-based asset manager with $6.5 billion in assets.

Matthews Asia has a team based in Hong Kong, and five dedicated

China funds as well as a roster of broader emerging market and

pan-Asian funds.

"Should I be worried about my employees in China or

traveling there? It certainly has leaped to the front of my mind

yet again," Headley said. "We've seen a long pattern since I

first traveled to China in 1991 of the country being very tricky

to work in, to seeming totally normal, to being tricky again."

Headley has not suspended corporate travel to China, but

told Reuters on Thursday that he will monitor events 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, Headley said.

DECADE-LONG TENURE

Before her election as FCI chair in June, Mao served as vice

chair of the body. The industry body did not immediately respond

to a Reuters request for comment on the matter.

Wells Fargo ( WFC ) CEO Charlie Scharf is a member of the Business

Roundtable, a group of company leaders that was addressed by

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year.

Mao is a U.S. citizen, according to the source who said

Wells Fargo ( WFC ) has suspended travel to China.

She has been a banker at Wells Fargo ( WFC ) for over a decade,

according to her LinkedIn profile. She currently serves as a

managing director at the lender and spearheads its international

factoring business, as well as advising multinational clients on

cross-border working-capital strategies.

Factoring is a financing method where companies sell their

receivables to third parties, such as banks, in exchange for

immediate cash. The third party, known as the factor, profits by

purchasing the receivables at a discount and collecting the full

amount later.

The Wall Street Journal reported it could not be determined

precisely when Mao entered China, or what prompted the travel

restriction.

She has worked and interacted with Chinese companies and

industry groups on trade financing and international factoring

matters, the Journal reported, adding she also sometimes

traveled to China for business.

EXIT BANS

Beijing has increasingly used exit bans on both Chinese and

foreign nationals, often in connection with civil disputes,

regulatory investigations or criminal probes.

Many affected individuals are unaware of the restrictions

until they attempt to leave the country.

Mao did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for

comment on LinkedIn.

"The Chinese government has, for many years, imposed exit

bans on U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals in China,

often without a clear and transparent judicial process for

resolution," the senior Trump administration official said.

In September 2023, authorities in China ordered a senior

Nomura banker overseeing the firm's investment banking

operations there not to leave the mainland.

Some companies have canceled or delayed trips to China in

recent years, while others have introduced safeguards such as

advising staff to enter the country in groups rather than alone.

Human-rights groups say China is using exit bans more

frequently, often targeting individuals under investigation or

those asked to cooperate with government inquiries.

Headley told Reuters that the incident involving Mao reminds

him of traveling with a Chinese-born colleague who had become a

U.S. citizen around 2003. They were scheduled to fly from

Shanghai to Hong Kong, and Headley, who had cleared security

first, turned around to see his colleague "surrounded by Chinese

security police, being marched off." The colleague managed to

get back to Hong Kong by flying to Guangzhou and then boarding a

ferry to Hong Kong.

"I was completely powerless to help," Headley said. The

current escalation in the level of rhetoric has reminded him to

be wary and not "to poke the panda bear."