China Merchants Bank relieves president Tian Huiyu of his job in surprise move after US$11 billion stock sell-off amid talk of unspecified probes
- Tian was relieved of his job with immediate effect, China Merchants Bank said, adding that he would be assigned to another unspecified post
- Chief financial officer Wang Liang to step up as interim CEO, the bank said
China Merchants Bank has unexpectedly relieved Tian Huiyu of his role as president and chief executive officer, after the stock plunged in Shanghai amid talk of investigations into the affairs of the country’s largest retail bank.
Tian, 56, was relieved of his job with immediate effect, and would be assigned to another post, the Shenzhen-based bank said, without specifying his new role. Tian, appointed to the bank’s top post in September 2013, will be replaced by chief financial officer Wang Liang as interim CEO, the bank said.
A senior executive of the bank was helping China’s authorities with an unspecified investigation, the financial news portal Hexun.com reported today, without naming the officer or divulging the nature of the probe. The bank did not respond to the Post’s request for comment, but told China Securities Journal it was looking into the reason for the stock’s plunge.
The unexpected move followed the worst sell-off of Merchants Bank’s shares in seven years on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which erased about 71 billion yuan (US$11.1 billion) in one day from the value of China’s third-largest lender by capitalisation.
Merchants Bank’s shares fell by as much as 8.6 per cent to an intraday low of 42.78 yuan in Shanghai, before clawing back some of the losses to close at 43.39 yuan, marking the biggest one-day sell-off since a 9.4 per cent slump in August 2015, according to Bloomberg’s data.
