Shuli Ren, Columnist

The Curious Exit of a Star China Banker

China Merchants Bank’s innovative wealth-management business could be in for trouble ahead.

Photographer: Future Publishing/Future Publishing
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An investors’ darling has fallen.

China Merchants Bank Co. lost about $16 billion in market value after the surprising departure of its long-time president, Tian Huiyu, who spent nearly nine years building the lender into a retail banking giant. Tian will get an administrative role at the bank’s largest shareholder, China Merchants Group, a Shenzhen-based state-owned enterprise, according to local financial-news website Cailianshe.