BEIJING, March. 17 -- The China Construction Bank (CCB) yesterday accepted the resignation of its chairman, Zhang Enzhao.

    The bank, one of the nation's four major State-owned commercial lenders, said its board has approved Zhang's resignation as director and chairman for "personal reasons."

    The bank's announcement followed hot on the heels of media reports claiming that Zhang had been under investigation because of a corruption scandal.

    But the bank's statement made no mention of these allegations, and "expressed appreciation to Zhang for his contribution to the reform and development of China Construction Bank over the years."

    Chang Zhenming, the bank's president, will serve as acting chairman until a new one is chosen, the statement added.

    Wang Zhao, a senior researcher at the State Council Development Research Centre, warned that Zhang's resignation and the allegations of corruption, if proven true, would have a certain negative impact on the bank's future development.

    But the sooner the issue is resolved, the smaller the impact will be on the bank, he said.

    Yi Xianrong, a senior economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, added that if the allegations were confirmed, they will have an impact on the bank's stock price.

    But it would not impact on the bank's listing plan, he added.

    The bank's statement pledged that it would further improve its corporate governance structure, accelerate the reform of its management system, and actively push forward its transformation into a joint stock company.

    The bank is striving to develop into a modern financial services firm with adequate capital and effective internal controls, the statement said.

    The bank is currently busy preparing for its initial public offering.

    Together with Bank of China, the CCB won a US$45 billion financial injection from the government in December 2003, as the central government tried to turn them into joint stock banks.

    The CCB established a joint stock listing vehicle on September 21, following the splitting of the bank into two parts.

    Bank of China reorganized itself into a joint stock company on August 26.

    The two banks claimed to have basically completed their financial reshuffle, but both declined to provide financial figures for last year.

    Earlier figures suggest that China Construction Bank's bad loan ratio dropped to 3.88 per cent at the end of September, from 9.12 per cent at the beginning of 2004. Its capital adequacy ratio had reached 9.39 per cent at the end of September. Enditem

(Source: China Daily)