Caixin News Agency, September 19th (Reporter Liang Kezhi) China CITIC Bank announced tonight that the board of directors of the bank approved the proposal to appoint Mr. Gu Lingyun as vice president of China CITIC Bank Co., Ltd., at the on-site meeting. This meeting was chaired by Chairman Fang Heying, and the board of directors agreed to appoint Mr. Gu Lingyun as the vice president of the bank, to officially take office from the date when the regulatory agency approves his qualifications as vice president.

This is another internal promotion to vice president after the board of directors of China CITIC Bank agreed to appoint He Jingsong as vice president on May 23.

He Jingsong, 56, is a veteran of China CITIC Bank. In the early years, he worked at the Sichuan Rural Trust and Investment Company. From October 1997 to May 2013, he served as the vice president (in charge of work) and president of the Dongcheng Street Branch of the Chengdu Branch of CITIC Bank, general manager of the branch's corporate business department, member of the branch party committee, assistant to the president, and vice president. Later, he served as the president of the Shanghai branch and the Beijing branch.

The newly appointed Gu Lingyun, born in February 1978, is only 46 years old this year, and is one of the youngest vice presidents of state-owned and joint-stock banks. China CITIC Bank announced that he has 25 years of experience in the Chinese banking industry.

On September 19th, a person from China CITIC Wealth Management told Caixin News Agency that Gu Lingyun is known for his strong business and management capabilities among the company's employees.

His resume also shows that Gu Lingyun was appointed as a member of the China CITIC Bank Party Committee in August 2024. Since 2020, he has been preparing to establish China CITIC Wealth Management Company, and has successively served as the president, party secretary, and after acting as chairman for 8 months, he officially became the chairman in February of this year.

Before this, Gu Lingyun joined China CITIC Bank in August 1999. During his 20 years at the Hangzhou Branch, he started from the grassroots, and served successively as assistant to the manager at the Jiefang Branch of the Hangzhou Branch, vice president (in charge of work), executive deputy general manager of the branch's business department, assistant to the branch president, party committee member, risk supervisor, vice president, and later transferred to the headquarters as the executive deputy general manager of the Inclusive Finance Department, party committee member, and vice president (in charge of work) of the Asset Management Business Center.

It is worth noting that the current chairman of China CITIC Bank, Fang Heying, also started at the Hangzhou branch, which overlaps with Gu Lingyun's experience.

Fang Heying's resume shows that after joining the Hangzhou branch of China CITIC Bank in 1996, from May 1999 to October 2001, during the time when she was in charge of the retail business department of the branch, Gu Lingyun joined the Hangzhou branch in August 1999 and initially worked at the sub-branch; thereafter, Fang Heying worked at the Hangzhou branch until March 2007.

In Gu Lingyun's 25 years of work experience, she spent twenty years at the Hangzhou branch and the last five years at the head office. When Gu Lingyun was transferred to the head office in November 2019, Fang Heying had already been serving as the executive director, deputy head (acting head), and CFO of China CITIC Bank since February 2019.

According to the official website of China CITIC Bank, besides CEO Liu Cheng, the deputy CEOs include Hu Gang, Xie Zhibin, and Lv Tiangui, as well as the business director Lu Jingeng and the board secretary Zhang Qing. If we add the deputy CEOs He Jinsong, appointed in May, and Gu Lingyun, appointed in September, it further forms a pattern of "one CEO, five deputy CEOs".

On the evening of August 28th, China CITIC Bank released its 2024 interim report. According to the report, in the first half of 2024, China CITIC Bank achieved operating income of CNY 108.64 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.60%; realized net profit attributable to shareholders of CNY 35.49 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 1.6%. Net interest margin was 1.77%, and basic earnings per share were CNY 0.56.

During the interim report earnings conference, Liu Cheng, the CEO of China CITIC Bank, summarized the characteristics of the bank's business development in the first half of the year with three words: "balance, stability, and sustainability". "These three words reflect the bank's business philosophy and development strategy, and are also the goals we have been striving for long-term."

Along with the release of the financial report, China CITIC Bank disclosed the profit distribution plan for the first half of 2024, which is a cash dividend of CNY 1.847 per 10 shares (including tax), accounting for 29.20% of the net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of the bank for the first half of 2024.