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By Samuel Shen and Jason Subler
January 16, 2012 8:00 AM EST
The new chief of Agricultural Bank of China <601288.SS> <1288.HK> brings no-nonsense flair and a strong track record in bank overhauls to the helm of the lumbering Chinese lender where he started out years ago as a filing clerk.
Jiang Chaoliang, President of China Development Bank
He returns to lead a company that was his first employer in banking, having worked his way up from a clerk distributing files and newspapers two decades ago to head its international business by the late 1990s.
During Jiang's three-year reign at China Development Bank, he transformed it from a lender that solely granted loans under government directives into a largely commercial bank, expanding into private equity businesses and with a series of international cooperation deals.
Jiang's efforts to revitalize CDB were capped late last year, when the bank launched its Hong Kong operations and signed a strategic partnership with private equity giants including TPG Capital
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It is not the first time the 54-year-old drove changes at a state-owned bank.
During Jiang's four-year stint as Chairman of Bank of Communications (BoCom) <3328.HK> <601328.SS> from June 2004, he transformed China's fifth-biggest lender from a struggling operation laden with bad debts into a dual-listed company with HSBC Holdings Plc
BoCom's successful reincarnation paved the way for the listings of China's "Big Four" state lenders, including AgBank, and built Jiang's reputation as a decisive man with superb negotiation skills.
"Jiang hardly conceals what he loves and hates," said a BoCom official who worked with Jiang but declined to be identified. "He wants things to be done quickly and neatly, and hates lengthy meetings that generate no results."
QUICK TURNAROUND
His drive has paid off. When Jiang landed at BoCom headquarters in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district with Beijing's mandate to turn the company around, it was suffering from inefficiency and a bad debt ratio of nearly 13 percent.
Within months, Jiang helped seal a slew of state-backed restructuring deals that saw BoCom dispose of 53 billion yuan ($8.31 billion) of bad assets, slash its bad loan ratio to 3.4 percent and introduce new government shareholders.
Jiang, who is often seen at public occasions in a dark suit and a red tie, played a crucial role in striking the deal with HSBC, which paid $1.7 billion for a 19.9 percent stake in BoCom in the biggest foreign investment in a Chinese bank at the time.
At one point during the lengthy and arduous talks, HSBC, worried about some newly unveiled scandals at BoCom, decided to leave the negotiating table, according to "Two Decades of Reforms," a book about BoCom's history.
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