Opinion | Hong Kong listing a milestone for Everbright Bank chairman

The listing of China Everbright Bank in Hong Kong has a double significance for its chairman, Tang Shuangning.

Tang, a former vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, will reach the official retirement age of 60 next year. A successful Hong Kong float should crown a remarkable business and political career for the veteran banker after at least two earlier attempts at listing.

The long-planned sale of H shares was originally scheduled to follow Agricultural Bank of China's US$22 billion dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong in August 2010.

Now it is set become a milestone for Tang, after a major turnaround of the previously troubled Beijing-headquartered lender to become the country's 11th-largest commercial bank.

Tang was appointed chairman of the financial conglomerate Everbright Group in July 2007, moving from a regulatory position at the CBRC.

At the time, the group's banking arm, Everbright Bank, posted the most significant losses of all its 100 subsidiaries - reporting a net loss of 3 billion yuan and bad debts of 15 billion yuan that put it on the brink of collapse.

Bankers involved in Everbright Bank's proposed US$1.8 billion float are cautious and reluctant to say too much, even though its institutional tranche has been well covered.