In January 2015, Mao abruptly resigned as president of Minsheng Bank for "personal reasons"; it was reported that he was undergoing investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, with suspected links to disgraced official Ling Jihua.
During his time at the Youth League he earned a Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard Kennedy School.
The decision was publicly announced by a company spokesperson, who cited "personal reasons," and said that Mao's resignation did not concern the "operations of the bank."
[2] It was widely believed that Mao was investigated in connection with the case surrounding former General Office of the Chinese Communist Party head Ling Jihua, who was detained in December 2014.
The Beijing News also reported that Mao had set up a so-called "wives club" at the bank, whereby the bank granted positions which "offered salaries for no work" to the wives of high officials, including Gu Liping, the wife of Ling Jihua, and Yu Lifang, the wife of Su Rong.