China’s big state-owned banks have just seen a major shift in leadership personnel, with the presumed appointment of a new head for the country’s infrastructure lender.
On 15 April the Organisation Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced the appointment of Zhang Jinliang (张金良) to the position of the deputy party chair of China Construction Bank (CCB).
Appointment to the position of deputy party chair of a big state-owned bank in China customarily precedes appointment to the position of its president.
52 year-old Zhang holds a doctorate in economics, and previously served as the head of the Beijing branch of Bank of China (BOC), deputy president of BOC, as well as executive director of China Everbright Group, and executive director and president of Everbright Bank.
In August 2018 Zhang was appointed to the positions of director, general manager and deputy-party secretary of Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC) – one of the country’s six big state-owned banks. In May 2019 Zhang became chairman of PSBC.
In 2021 PSBC announced a year-on-year decline in its full year net interest margin of 6bps to 2.36%, following the government’s call for China’s state-owned banks to “sacrifice profits” to the real economy.
