(Yicai Global) Feb. 26 -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest lender, said yesterday that it has promoted Liao Lin, chief risk officer and senior executive vice president, to the position of president.

Prior to working at Beijing-based ICBC, Liao spent 30 years at China Construction Bank, another state banking giant, holding the positions of branch president, chief risk officer and vice president.

ICBC’s former boss, Gu Shu, stepped down in January to become chairman of Agricultural Bank of China, the third of China’s so-called Big Four lenders. Bank of China is the other member of this elite group.

Born in 1966, Liao graduated from Guangxi Agricultural University and earned a doctorate in management from Southwest Jiaotong University. A senior economist, he was EVP at ICBC since November 2019 and CRO from last April.

With tier 1 capital of USD337.5 billion, ICBC was first on a list of the top 1,000 global banks in 2019 complied by UK magazine the Banker. It has ranked first for seven years in a row. The bank also took first took the No. 1 spot for pre-tax profit.

Editor: Peter Thomas