Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB) has elected Frank Newman as acting chairman of the Board to succeed John Langlois, it was announced yesterday.

Langlois, also chairman of Morgan Stanley Properties-China, has decided to relinquish the chairmanship of SDB in light of his moving to Tokyo. He will however remain a member of the Board of Directors, the Shenzhen-listed bank said.

Newman chairman emeritus of New York-based Bankers Trust Corporation and former Deputy Secretary of the United States Treasury Department, will represent Newbridge Asia AIV as the highest ranking executive of SDB. Jeffrey Williams, President of SDB, will report to Newman.

Pending approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and applicable action from a shareholder meeting next month, the Harvard University graduate, who has been a member of the SDB Board of Directors since December, will serve as the official chairman of the Board.

The CBRC previously approved the appointment of John Langlois and Jeffrey Williams who were recruited as the first foreign bankers of a Chinese bank last December.

The move followed a drastic reshuffle of SDB's ten member board, with the introduction of five new members from Newbridge.

Newbridge, a US-based investment fund, became the bank's biggest shareholder at the end of last year, taking up a 17.89 per cent stake in the bank at a price of 1.24 billion yuan (US$149.7 million).

SDB had 198.8 billion yuan (US$ 24.1 billion ) of assets by the end of last September, although it also had liabilities of 194. 5 billion yuan (US$23.5 billion).

Negotiations with Newbridge on the sale were shelved in 2003, but the two parties came together again early last year and won the CBRC's approval for the deal in September.

(China Daily May 19, 2005)