Ping An Bank Selects Candidates For Two New Top Positions

(Beijing) — Ping An Bank, a unit of China's second-largest insurer, has selected two executives of Ping An Securities, a sister subsidiary, to take top positions at the bank as part of its new focus on retail banking, sources familiar with the situation said.

Forty-six-year-old Yang Zhiqun, Ping An Securities' general manager, was appointed executive deputy president of the lender, while Guo Shibang, 51, will become the bank's assistant board chairman, the sources said. Both posts are new.

Last week, Xie Yonglin, 47, deputy general manager of Ping An Insurance Group and chairman of Ping An Securities, was nominated as the lender's chairman.

The personnel changes still need the approval of the bank's board and shareholders, as well as China's banking regulatory body.

The personnel moves come as the bank is bringing its retail banking services into focus. All the three newly nominated executives have years of experience in the industry.

Yang was in charge of establishing the sub-branch of Ping An Bank in Guangzhou in 2009. Guo was once the general manager of the retail service department of China Mingsheng Bank in the northeastern port city of Dalian in 2011. A year later, he later became the chief supervisor of financing services for small businesses in the head office of Ping An Bank in Shenzhen.

Xie joined Ping An Insurance Group in 1994, and was in charge of retail services from 2006 to 2013 as director of operation and deputy president in Ping An Bank.

In early August, Liu Shuyun, assistant to the president and head of the bank's Beijing branch, was arrested. Caixin learned from sources close to the investigation that Liu may have violated regulations related to the bank's investment-banking business.

Contact reporter Dong Tongjian (tongjiandong@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com)