By ZENG Lingjun

China Merchants Bank removed TIAN Huiyu from his role as president and CEO on Monday after shares fell as much as 8 percent in Shanghai.

In a statement, CMB said Tian’s removal was immediately effective. He will be reassigned to another post. CFO Wang Liang will become interim CEO. 

Tian, 56, took the post in 2013. He holds a master’s degree from Columbia University and before joining CMB, Tian worked for Bank of Shanghai and China Cinda Asset Management.  

During his nine years in charge, Tian steered the revival of CMB’s retail business and made fintech a major task for the bank's future. Sources familiar with Tian told Jiemian News that he was highly spoken of among the senior executives and was “professional, forward-looking and dared to challenge the status quo.”

CMB’s assets have performed very well since Tian took charge. In 2012, assets added up to 3.4 trillion yuan, with an annual net margin of 45 billion yuan. By 2021, they had tripled to 9.2 trillion yuan with a net margin of 120 billion yuan.

CMB’s shares in Shanghai crashed 8.6 percent to 42.78 yuan on Monday morning, bouncing back to 43.39 by the close.