Hunan Bank President Zhou Hui 'Proposed for Further Use', Signaling Potential Top Management Change

Hunan Bank, which was officially inaugurated just over three years ago, may be on the verge of its first major change in senior leadership.

Recently, the Organization Department of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee issued a pre-appointment public notice indicating that Zhou Hui, the current Deputy Party Secretary, Vice Chairman, and President of Hunan Bank, is "proposed for further use."

Other Provincial Banks See Similar Moves

According to statistics, in addition to Hunan Bank, several other provincial-level法人 banks have seen their former presidents receive "further use" over the past year. These include:

• Shanxi Bank: Former President Li Yingyao was transferred to serve as Deputy Director (at the principal level) of the Provincial Local Financial Administration Bureau.
• Jiangsu Bank: Former President Yuan Jun has assumed the roles of Party Secretary and Chairman of the board.

Background of the First President

Zhou Hui, born in the 1970s, is currently 55 years old. His career background includes:

• Early work at the Postdoctoral Research Station of Peking University and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange
• A brief teaching period as an Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Finance, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
• In late 2004, he became Assistant to the President of First Capital Securities, and was promoted to Vice President the following year
• From June 2007, he served as President of Fortune Securities (now "Chasing Securities"), concurrently holding roles as Executive Director, Director of Desheng Futures, and Chairman of Fortune Lyon Securities. During this period, he completed postdoctoral research at the Institute of Finance and Banking, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
• In July 2013, after nearly nine years in the securities industry, he transferred to the former Hunan Provincial Financial Office as a Party Leadership Group Member and Deputy Director. He continued in this role after the office was restructured into the Hunan Provincial Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau
• In September 2021, he was seconded to serve as a Member of the Standing Committee of the Xiangtan Municipal Party Committee and Vice Mayor

During his tenure at the provincial financial regulatory body, Zhou Hui oversaw the Banking Division, the Second Financial Supervision Division, and the Party Committee of the Bureau. During his secondment in Xiangtan, he was responsible for finance, securities, insurance, state-owned asset supervision, and enterprise reform, and assisted in work related to preventing and resolving local debt risks.

Appointment as First President of Hunan Bank

In late September 2022, the Organization Department of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee issued a notice indicating that Zhou Hui was "proposed to assume a principal position in a provincial enterprise." Subsequently, the former Huarong Xiangjiang Bank held an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in November of that year to consider a series of proposals, including a name change and the nomination of directors. Zhou Hui was among those nominated.

In February 2023, Hunan Bank, newly formed from the former Huarong Xiangjiang Bank, was officially inaugurated, and Zhou Hui became its first president, a position he held until this latest "proposed for further use" notice.

Hunan Bank's Asset Scale Exceeds 650 Billion Yuan

Hunan Bank was formerly known as Huarong Xiangjiang Bank, which was established in October 2010. It was founded by introducing China Huarong and restructuring several city commercial banks and urban credit cooperatives in Hunan Province.

In November 2021, China Huarong announced that, in accordance with regulatory requirements for AMCs to gradually exit non-core businesses and relevant regulations on the transfer of state-owned financial enterprise equity by the Ministry of Finance, it planned to publicly transfer its 40.53% stake in Huarong Xiangjiang Bank.

In April 2022, the stake was listed on the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange with an asking price of 11.981 billion yuan. Ultimately, a consortium formed by Hunan Fortune Capital (Caixin Financial Control) and Central Huijin Investment became the sole intended transferee.

• Hunan Fortune Capital acquired 20.53% of the shares for a consideration of 6.069 billion yuan.
• Central Huijin Investment acquired 20% of the shares for a consideration of 5.912 billion yuan.

After the transfer, the city commercial bank license returned to Hunan, China Huarong no longer held any shares in the bank, and the renamed Hunan Bank was officially launched in early 2023.

In October 2025, the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance and eight provincial or municipal state-owned enterprises injected a total of 4.01 billion yuan into Hunan Bank. Following the capital increase, the bank's registered capital rose to 8.75 billion yuan.

As of the end of last year, governments at the provincial and municipal levels in Hunan indirectly held 65.88% of the bank's shares through their subsidiaries. Among them, Hunan Fortune Capital and its affiliates held a combined 35.85% of the shares, making the Hunan Provincial Government the actual controller of the bank.

Data shows that as of the end of June this year, Hunan Bank's total assets exceeded 650 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, the bank achieved operating income of 5.9 billion yuan and net profit of 1.95 billion yuan, representing year-on-year growth of 5.3% and 0.6%, respectively.