SHANGHAI, Feb 28 Two vice-mayors in China's financial hub of Shanghai have stepped down,

SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (Reuters) Two vice-mayors in China's financial hub of Shanghai have stepped down, state media said today, but it was unclear whether the moves were related to a financial scandal that has toppled the city's Communist Party boss.

One of the vice-mayors, Yan Junqi, has been sent to Beijing to work as vice-chairwoman of the China Association for Promoting Democracy, the China Daily and Xinhua news agency said. The group is one of eight minor political parties that have no power and serve to provide the appearance of democracy.

The other vice-mayor, Zhou Yupeng, has become deputy head of the standing committee of the city's parliament, media reported.

There was no word on why they had been moved and no replacements have been named.

Sources told Reuters earlier this week that another vice-mayor, Feng Guoqin, would step down and become head of a powerless political advisory body in Shanghai.

The sources said Feng's planned move did not stem from any suspicion of involvement in the corruption scandal, which implicated more than a dozen senior city officials and businessmen in the alleged embezzlement of money from Shanghai's 10 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) social security fund.

The scandal cost Shanghai Communist Party boss Chen Liangyu his job.

But the move may partly be an indirect result of the scandal, which is believed to have made Communist Party chief Hu Jintao more keen to assert party authority over Shanghai -- the political bailiwick of Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin.

REUTERS PDM DS1103