(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- The president of leading Chinese joint-stock lender Hengfeng Bank has stepped down and is expected to become the new chairman of Shenzhen-listed Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank.

Wang Xifeng has resigned from all positions, Jinan-based Hengfeng Bank announced late yesterday. He will be joining Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank as chairman, sources at Hengfeng Bank told Yicai Global, though his appointment has not yet been officially confirmed.

Wang, 57, had been president and executive director of Hengfeng Bank since June 2018, when regulators took control of the bank because it was in deep financial trouble following mismanagement by two former chairmen earlier in the decade. A new leadership team that included Wang was brought in to dispose of non-performing assets and bring in strategic investors.

In October 2019, Hengfeng Bank received a capital injection of CNY100 billion (USD14.8 billion), including CNY60 billion (USD8.9 billion) from Central Huijin Investment, the investment arm of China’s central bank, making Central Huijin its top shareholder. United Overseas Bank of Singapore owns 3 percent.

Before joining Hengfeng Bank, Wang worked at Bank of China for several years, including as president of its Shandong provincial branch.

Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank was founded on the basis of integrating regional rural credit cooperatives, and went public in March 2019. In Shenzhen today, the bank’s shares [SHE: 002958] dipped 0.3 percent to CNY2.99 (44 US cents) apiece.

At the end of last year, the bank had total assets of around CNY430.4 billion (USD63.7 billion), which was about 35 percent of Hengfeng Banks' CNY1.2 trillion (USD177.6 billion).

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione