A growing tide of vice presidents at Chinese banks are leaving due to corruption probes against them or for better private sector pay, causing headaches for their employers
(From Caixin Online)
By staff reporter Wu Hongyuran
Once a promising career that brought respect and handsome salaries, a vice president’s job at China’s major commercial banks is rapidly losing its luster, the victim of recent anti-corruption and frugality campaigns that have seen salaries shrivel and other perks evaporate.
Bank of China, one of the country’s biggest lenders, is just one of many lenders that have faced a vice president shortage since the start of this year. First one of its six vice presidents retired, and then another left to become president of China Everbright Bank earlier in the year.
The elite group continued to shrink after another vice president, Zhu Hexin, was appointed vice governor of southwestern Sichuan Province on June 2. Such movement is relatively common in China, where the Communist Party often treats high positions at big state-run enterprises as a type of government posting for rising bureaucrats.
Depending on their size, a typical Chinese bank has five to eight vice presidents at its head office, usually tasked with establishing and maintaining relationships with customers and business partners, overseeing assistant managers, and monitoring overall financial performance, according to a person working in the sector.
“We urgently need vice presidents now,” a bank employee told Caixin only half-jokingly. Read more