Two senior Chinese bank executives have made a provocative public call for the role of the ruling Communist party in financial institutions to be curbed.

The chairman of China Construction Bank and the biggest shareholder of the country's largest property lender describe in an interview in financial magazine Caijing how the CCB's board has operated in the shadow of a party-controlled committee inside the bank. The comments were made by Xie Ping, who heads Central Huijin Investment, a majority shareholder in two of the big four state banks now preparing for overseas listings.