The candidates for two vice presidents of China Merchants Bank have been finalized, and the direction of "flattening" the structure continues

The appointments of two vice presidents at China Merchants Bank (600036.SH) have finally been settled.

On December 27th, China Merchants Bank disclosed that the board of directors has agreed to appoint Lei Caihua and Xu Mingjie as vice presidents; on the same day, former vice president Zhong Desheng resigned from his position.

After regulatory approval, the management structure of China Merchants Bank will change from the previous "one president, five vice presidents, and two assistants" to "one president and six vice presidents."

Earlier, there were reports that Lei and Xu had already been appointed as members of the party committee; due to the bank's tradition of promoting assistants to vice presidents, there was widespread speculation in the industry that the two would be promoted to vice presidents.

From their past experiences, both Lei Caihua and Xu Mingjie joined China Merchants Bank in 1995 and are considered "veterans" in corporate banking.

Lei Caihua, who has just turned 50, is the youngest member of the current management team. He has held positions such as general manager of the corporate finance products department, general manager of the strategic clients department, and general manager of the small enterprise finance department. Previously, he served as assistant to the president and president of the Shanghai branch and the Shanghai Free Trade Zone branch.

Xu Mingjie, now 56 years old, has held positions such as deputy general manager of the investment banking department, general manager of the credit execution department, and general manager of the risk management department. He previously served as assistant to the president and president of the Beijing branch.

After taking office, Lei Caihua and Xu Mingjie may continue to serve as presidents of the Shanghai and Beijing branches, respectively.

The president of the Shenzhen branch, which is also one of the "three special branches," has recently been appointed as Wang Xinghai, the former vice president, while the former president Wang Xiaoqing will fully return to the head office to focus on the asset management sector.

In recent years, China Merchants Bank has frequently adjusted its organizational structure, still focusing on the retail line, with an overall trend towards flattening the structure.

Earlier this year, China Merchants Bank established a new retail customer department based on the existing secondary departments of the "Network Operation Service Center" and the wealth platform department.

This department will more accurately grasp the characteristics and needs of different retail customer groups through online and intelligent methods, and provide more suitable products and services, fully promoting the new model of "people + digitalization" in retail customer service.

President Wang Liang emphasized at the performance release conference that the retail structure aims to implement the "customer-centric" business philosophy, enhance the head office's service support capabilities for retail business, and ensure the smooth implementation of retail banking business development strategies.

In the latter half of this year, China Merchants Bank has gradually reduced the setting of president-level positions in its head office departments to ensure a streamlined and flat organizational structure.

For example, the current retail finance headquarters, corporate finance headquarters, and investment banking and financial markets headquarters no longer have the position of "president."