Agricultural Bank of China's restructuring is expected to accelerate after Xiang Junbo's appointment as president.

 

Xiang, the People's Bank of China's former deputy governor, will replace Yang Mingsheng as president, sources close to the bank confirmed.

 

Yang will become vice-chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, the sources said.

 

Xiang's experience in the central bank and the National Audit Office will help bring credibility to the bank's long-awaited reform, experts said.

 

Xiang, 55, joined the National Audit Office in 1996 and was appointed as the central bank's deputy governor in 2004.

 

"The detailed reform scheme is likely to come out after Xiang's appointment," said Zhao Xijun, a professor at Renmin University of China.

 

Issues like whether to introduce strategic investors will be resolved soon, he said.

 

Jiao Jinpu, deputy chief of the central bank's research bureau, said earlier this month that the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) is now under external auditing and an initial framework restructuring plan is likely to be drawn in the first half of the year.

 

In February annual meeting, the bank set a target to establish the joint share holding company before the end of the year.

 

China's financial industry is experiencing a series of management reshuffles.

 

Tang Shuangning, former vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), was appointed to head the State-owned financial group, China Everbright Group, as well as its banking unit.

 

Tang took the position on Wednesday, a CBRC official said. Tang, 53, joined the central bank in 1982 before moving to the CBRC when it was founded in 2003.

 

Wang Mingquan, the group's previous chairman, stepped down as he reached the retirement age of 60.

 

The reshuffle comes as China Everbright awaits a 20 billion yuan bailout from Central Huijin Investment.

 

Xu Feng, director of the CBRC's supervision department III, which oversees foreign banks, will be appointed president of Pudong Development Bank. Deng Hongguo, director of the supervision department IV, which is in charge of asset management companies, policy banks and the new Postal Savings Bank, will take Xu's place.

 

(China Daily June 22, 2007)