Guangzhou Bank President Xiao Ruiyan Will Turn 60 This Year; Successor Uncertain

Operator Finance Network Zhang Yundi / Text

Recently, Guangzhou Bank Chairman Li Dalong has been quite active. On March 11, he attended the strategic cooperation signing ceremony between Guangzhou Bank and Xeno Investment and delivered a speech.

Notably, the person representing both parties in signing the cooperation agreement was Yang Guojian, General Manager of the Technology Finance Center at Guangzhou Bank’s head office. Despite the high profile of this signing event, the bank’s President Xiao Ruiyan was not present.

Public information shows that Xiao Ruiyan was born in June 1966, and is now 60 years old. In his early career, he held key positions at Minsheng Bank, Guizhou Bank, Zhongguancun Bank, Shengjing Bank, and others. It wasn’t until March 2021 that he officially took on the role of President of Guangzhou Bank.

According to previous retirement policies, Xiao Ruiyan is reaching retirement age this year, but it’s unclear when he will retire. Additionally, since the beginning of 2026, Guangzhou Bank has undergone frequent personnel adjustments, including the addition of Deputy Party Secretary Lü Tianhua, who has presided over related party-building meetings, sparking speculation that Lü Tianhua might succeed as the next President.

Currently, Guangzhou Bank has two Deputy Party Secretaries: Xiao Ruiyan, who is also President, and Li Chun Yuan, a Director and Deputy Party Secretary. The addition of Lü Tianhua further expands the senior management team, but there is no further news on the new President candidate.

Whoever ultimately takes over, the “burden” on the next President will not be light.

In the first three quarters of 2025, Guangzhou Bank achieved operating income of 9.722 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.67%. For the full year 2024, the bank’s revenue had already declined by 13.86% year-on-year. In terms of net profit attributable to the parent, the downward trend is even more pronounced, dropping to 1.012 billion yuan in 2024, a sharp decline of 66.47% year-on-year, with several consecutive years of decline.

Asset quality is also under pressure. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, Guangzhou Bank’s core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio, Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio, and total capital adequacy ratio were 7.73%, 9.20%, and 12.65%, respectively, down 1.37, 0.80, and 0.96 percentage points from the end of the previous year. Notably, the core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio has approached the regulatory red line of 7.5%, highlighting the pressure for capital replenishment.

Kang Rui, Deputy General Manager of Operator Finance Network, believes that for the next President, the real challenge is not just the leadership transition, but how to lead this billion-yuan city commercial bank out of its operational difficulties.

(Editor: Zhang Yundi)