(Yicai Global) April 18 -- Shares of China Citic Bank rose after the commercial lender said it promoted its president to chairman.

Citic Bank [SHA: 601998] was trading up 2 percent at CNY6.11 (89 US cents) as of today’s lunch break.

President Fang Heying succeeded Zhu Hexin, who earlier resigned from all his positions in Citic Bank amid changes in work arrangements, as new chairman effective yesterday, the Beijing-based bank announced late yesterday.

Fang stepped down from president but will maintain all his other positions in Citic Bank, the lender added. Executive Vice President Liu Cheng will replace Feng as the new president.

All the changes are subject to the approval of the regulator, Citic Bank noted.

Fang has been working at Citic Bank for many years. He was the head of the lender’s Hangzhou and Suzhou branches, two major economic cities in China. Fang was named president of the bank in March 2019.

Liu served as Citic Bank’s chief supervisor between April 2018 and November 2021 and was later appointed executive VP. Before joining the lender, Liu worked at China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the General Office of the State Council.

Citic Bank is China’s 10th largest bank by assets. According to its latest annual report, it logged CNY211.4 billion (USD30.8 billion) in business revenue last year, up 3.3 percent from 2021. Net profit rose 11.6 percent to CNY62.1 billion (USD9 billion). Meanwhile, the ratio and balance of Citic Bank’s non-performing loans continued to decline in the period.

Editor: Futura Costaglione