ICBC said poised to promote company veteran Gu Shu to president

[SHANGHAI] Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the world's largest lender by assets, is poised to promote Vice President Gu Shu to president, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Mr Gu's appointment will need final government approval, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they're not authorised to speak publicly. The state-owned lender may announce the move as soon as this month, according to one of the people.

A promotion would put Mr Gu, who joined ICBC in 1998, in charge of overseeing day-to-day management of a lender that has about US$3.5 trillion of assets.

It is part of a reshuffle that follows the retirement of former Chairman Jiang Jianqing in May. Former President Yi Huiman assumed Mr Jiang's role.

Mr Gu became vice president in October 2013. He has postgraduate degrees in economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and Dongbei University of Finance and Economics - and was a visiting scholar for a year at Pennsylvania State University. His total compensation was 502,000 yuan (S$101,436) in 2015, according to ICBC's annual report.

A spokesman for the Beijing-based lender declined to comment.

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