On August 25th, China Bank announced that the Board of Directors has received Liu Jin's resignation. Liu Jin resigned from the positions of Vice Chairman, Executive Director, Member of the Board of Directors' Strategic Development Committee, and President of the Bank for personal reasons. The resignation will take effect from August 25, 2024. At the same time, the Board of Directors approved Ge Haijiao, the Chairman, to act as President.

According to the information, Liu Jin has been the President of Bank of China since April 2021. Before that, from December 2019 to March 2021, Liu Jin served as an Executive Director of China Everbright Group Co., Ltd. From January 2020 to March 2021, he served as the President of CEB Bank. From March 2020 to March 2021, he served as an Executive Director of CEB Bank. From September 2018 to November 2019, he served as the Vice President of China Development Bank.

In addition, Liu Jin has also worked for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for many years, holding positions such as Deputy President of ICBC Shandong Branch, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of ICBC Europe, General Manager and General Manager of ICBC Frankfurt Branch, General Manager of Investment Banking Department of ICBC Head Office, and President of Jiangsu Branch.

It is worth mentioning that shortly before the announcement of the resignation, Liu Jin's absence from recent board meetings caused market attention. According to the announcement, at the 7th board meeting of Bank of China held on August 19th in Beijing and voted on site, Liu Jin, the then Vice Chairman and Executive Director, did not attend the meeting due to other arrangements.

A reporter from Caijing Network found that in the past year, there have been cases of directors not being able to attend the board meetings of Bank of China in person. Most of them entrusted relevant individuals to attend and vote on their behalf, and the reasons were mostly "due to other important official duties".

For example, at the 4th board meeting of Bank of China in 2024, there should have been 16 directors attending and 14 directors attending in person. Ge Haijiao, the Chairman, could not attend the meeting due to other important official duties, so he entrusted Liu Jin, the then Vice Chairman and Executive Director, to attend and vote. Lin Jingzhen, the Executive Director, could not attend the meeting due to other important official duties, so he entrusted Zhang Yi, the Executive Director, to attend and vote.

On February 26th, at the 2nd board meeting of Bank of China in 2024, there should have been 14 directors attending and 13 directors attending in person. Independent Non-executive Director Jean-Louis Eclat could not attend the meeting due to other important official duties, so he entrusted Giovanni Triia, Independent Non-executive Director, to attend and vote.

In addition, Liu Jin was unable to attend the board meeting in person on a previous occasion and entrusted relevant personnel to attend and vote on his behalf, with the reason being "due to other important official duties". Historical announcements show that on August 30, 2023, at the 6th board meeting of Bank of China in 2023, there were supposed to be 13 directors in attendance, with 11 directors attending in person. Liu Jin, the then Vice Chairman and Executive Director of Bank of China, was unable to attend the meeting due to other important official duties, and entrusted Executive Director Lin Jingzhen to attend and vote on his behalf. Independent non-executive director E Wei Nan was unable to attend the meeting due to other important official duties, and entrusted independent non-executive director Jiang Guohua to attend and vote on his behalf.

However, earlier, there were also cases similar to the situation at the 7th board meeting in 2024, where absent members did not entrust relevant individuals to attend and vote on their behalf. In addition, the specific reasons for their absence were not stated. For example, on March 9, 2023, at the 2nd board meeting of Bank of China in 2023, there were supposed to be 15 directors in attendance, with 10 directors attending in person.

其中，时任董事长刘连舸和执行董事王纬未出席本次会议。刘连舸、王纬未有未出席理由，也未委托相关人士代为出席并表决。不久后的信息显示，刘连舸因工作调整，2023年3月18日辞去该行董事长、执行董事、董事会战略发展委员会主席及委员、企业文化与消费者权益保护委员会委员职务。2023年3月31日中央纪委国家监委网站显示刘连舸被查。王玮则是因年龄原因在当年3月21日辞去该行执行董事、董事会关联交易控制委员会委员及该行副行长职务。

Shen Meng, Executive Director of Xiangsong Capital, told Caixin reporter that if a director is absent from a board meeting, they can choose to entrust others to attend or not, but if the absence results in not meeting the minimum number of directors required for the meeting, then the board meeting cannot be held or the resolutions passed at the meeting are not valid. Directors who are absent from a board meeting do not need to provide any specific reasons.