FILE PHOTO: People walk outside Shanghai World Financial Center, where a Wells Fargo office is situated, in the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo

By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Wells Fargo banker, Chenyue Mao, who had been barred from leaving China for several months, has been allowed to return to the United States following negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials, according to two people with knowledge of the case.

Mao has already left China, said one of the sources, who could not be named due to the sensitive nature of the information.

The removal of Mao's exit ban comes after U.S. and Chinese officials struck a deal in Madrid to switch short-video app TikTok to U.S.-controlled ownership, a breakthrough in months-long talks between the two biggest economies to defuse a wide-ranging trade war that has unnerved global markets.

The news of the removal of Mao's exit ban was first reported by the Washington Post.

It was not immediately clear whether the subject of Mao's exit ban had come up in Madrid or was part of separate talks.

China's Foreign Ministry said in July she had been prevented from leaving China due to her involvement in a criminal case and that she had been required to cooperate with an investigation.

"China is a country governed by rule of law, and handles criminal cases and issues of exit and entry according to its laws," the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, when asked for an update on Mao's case.

Wells Fargo, the White House, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Mao, who was born in Shanghai and is based in Atlanta, is a U.S. citizen, Reuters reported in July citing a source.

Mao spearheads Wells Fargo's international factoring business, a financing method where companies sell their receivables to third parties, such as banks, in exchange for immediate cash, and advises multinational clients on cross-border working-capital strategies.

Mao did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. She has been with Wells Fargo for over a decade, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Wells Fargo has a much smaller presence in China than most of its Wall Street peers, with its Shanghai and Beijing branches employing about 63 staff as at 2024, business registration records show.

These two branches draw deposits from Chinese customers, and provide loans, trade bonds and securities other than stocks, and conduct foreign exchange businesses, according to the units' business registration.

Mao's exit ban had revived fears that employees of foreign firms risk entanglement with Chinese authorities, business groups and diplomats say.

She was the latest in a number of foreign executives who had been barred from leaving China or detained in the past few years.

In March, Chinese authorities released employees of U.S. corporate due diligence firm, Mintz Group, who were detained in Beijing two years ago. A senior Nomura banker was ordered not to leave mainland China in late 2023, Reuters reported at the time, citing sources.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen in Beijing & Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Writing by Scott Murdoch. Editing by Tom Hogue and Shri Navaratnam)