Siqing Chen: Bank of China President

Siqing Chen earned a college degree in 1982 from Hubei Institute of Finance and Economics. A Certified Public Accountant Chen also received an MBA from Murdoch University, Australia in 1999.  He joined the Bank of China in 1990.

During the period June 2000 to May 2008 Chen held various positions in the Bank such as Assistant General Manager, Vice General Manager of the Fujian Branch, General Manager of the Risk Management Department of Head Office and General Manager of the Guangdong Branch.

Prior to that Chen worked in the Hunan branch of the Bank before he was seconded to the Hong Kong Branch of China and South Sea Bank Ltd. as Assistant General Manager.

From June 2008 to January 2014 Chen has served as Executive Vice President of the Bank.  In February 2014 he was promoted to the top management post as President of Bank of China and was appointed Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors in April 2014.

Since December 2011 he has been serving as Non-Executive Director of BOCHK (Holdings) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of BOC Aviation.

Other positions held by Chen include serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of China Culture Industrial Investment Fund Co., Ltd., Vice Chairman of China Chamber of International Commerce and Director of Trade and Finance Committee of China Banking Association.

The bank that Chen leads has played a significant role in China’s history. It was established in February 1912 following the approval of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The period 1912 to 1949 saw the Bank serve consecutively as the country’s central bank, international exchange bank and specialized international trade bank. The Bank was made into a wholly state-owned commercial bank in 1994. 

The Bank of China Limited was incorporated in August 2004. The Bank was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange in June and July 2006 respectively.  As the most international and diversified bank, Bank of China provides a full range of financial services to customers throughout the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and 37 countries. 

Li Lihui: Leading One Big Bank

Li Lihui is the Vice Chairman and President of Bank of China. This is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the China. It is one of the largest bank lenders in China and is also one of the biggest banks in the world. Thus it takes an exceptional amount of talent to be able to run this bank let alone being chosen to head it as in any government controlled institution there may be some degree of public politics involved in choosing who runs it.

Li though has good credentials. He was born in 1952 in Fujian Province, Putian City and joined the Communist Party of China in 1975. Li graduated from the Economics Department of Xiamen University in 1977 and earned a Doctorate in Economics from the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University in 1999.

Li has solid banking experience having held numerous banking positions. He started his career at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in his native Fujian Province. There he served as director and Party member.  From January 1989 to July 1994 Li held various positions at ICBC such as Deputy General Manager of the Fujian Branch, Chief Representative of the Singapore Representative Office and General Manager of the International Business Department.  He was an Executive Vice President of ICBC from July 1994 to September 2002.

As he was part of the governing political party Li had the experience of serving as Deputy Governor of Hainan Province from September 2002 to August 2004. After t that period it was back to full time banking for Li; he has been the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of the Bank of China since August 2004.

Bank of China is a one-of-a- kind bank, since its founding in February 1912 to 1949 it served as the country’s central bank, international exchange bank, and specialized international trade bank. In 1994, it became a stated-owned bank after having been a specialized foreign exchange bank. It was incorporated as Bank of China Limited in August 2004. Li led the bank as it was listed on the Hong Kong Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange in June and July 2006 respectively.

Li heads China’s most internationalized bank which is still majority-owned by the state government.