Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank President Resigns on Tenure Limit as Guangdong Banks Reshuffle

On the evening of August 14, Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank announced that President Fu Qiang had submitted his resignation from the posts of executive director and president, citing that he had met regulatory requirements on tenure limits for key bank positions. The board said it would elect a new executive director and appoint a new president, and would nominate a suitable person to assume the president's duties temporarily.

Fu Qiang joined the bank in November 2018, having previously spent his career at the People's Bank of China, including as president of the Zhaoqing Central Sub-branch and deputy inspector of the Guangzhou branch. He also served as a standing committee member and vice governor of Gannan Prefecture, Gansu Province, from October 2014 to November 2016. He became executive director and president of Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank in July 2019.

During his tenure, the bank's assets grew from RMB408.16 billion at the end of 2018 to RMB807.78 billion by the end of March 2026. The bank listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September 2021. In early 2022, with the approval of the provincial government, the management of Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank and Guangdong Puning Rural Commercial Bank was transferred from the provincial association to the Dongguan municipal government, with Dongguan assisting in the management of Puning. The bank has three cross-regional first-level branches in Nansha, Hengqin and Huizhou, and manages Zhanjiang, Chaoyang, Yunfu Xinxing Dongying village bank and Hezhou Babu Dongying village bank, while holding stakes in Shunde, Xuwen, Lechang and Ya'an rural commercial banks. Its senior management includes vice presidents Qian Hua, Ye Jianguang and Ye Yunfei, assistant president Zhong Guobo and chief risk officer Zheng Renhe, all born in the 1970s.

This year, several large rural commercial banks in Guangdong have seen changes in management. In early January, Huang Dongqi and Wen Huasheng were appointed chairman and president of Jiangmen Rural Commercial Bank, having previously been chairmen of Zhaoqing and Taishan rural commercial banks respectively. In early June, Wang Yijian's appointment as president of Huizhou Rural Commercial Bank was approved; he had been party committee deputy secretary and president of Jiangmen. At the end of June, Liu Jingyan was approved as chairman of Zhongshan Rural Commercial Bank, after serving as vice president of Jiangmen and general manager of the universal finance department of the provincial association. In early July, Wang Lei, executive director and president of Shunde Rural Commercial Bank, resigned due to a work transfer to become deputy secretary of the party working committee and director of the management committee of Foshan Zhongde Industrial Service Zone. In early August, Zeng Li stepped down as chairman of Zhuhai Rural Commercial Bank, with party committee deputy secretary and vice chairman Wang Pan acting in his stead; Zeng Li was transferred to Zhuhai Gree Group as deputy party secretary and director.

The Guangdong rural credit system is promoting management reform. Between 2021 and 2022, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Shunde and Nanhai rural commercial banks successively left the provincial association and came under direct management of local governments, while Shantou Haiwan Rural Commercial Bank, established in November 2020, is managed by the Shantou municipal government. This reform has created a structure of moderate competition in which banks that left the association each manage a portion, with the association managing the rest, forming a key part of the 'Guangdong plan' for deepening rural credit cooperative reform.