(Yicai Global) July 28 -- Industrial Bank, a major Chinese commercial lender, has appointed Lu Jiajin as its new chairman, after the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission gave the green light.

The Fujian province-based bank announced yesterday that Lu took up the chairmanship on July 26. The position had been vacant since Gao Jianping retired in September 2019.

Lu is an economist who has held executive positions at several large state-backed banks. Before joining Industrial Bank, he was vice president at Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank. He also worked for the Postal Saving Bank of China.

Industrial Bank had total assets of almost CNY8 trillion (USD1.2 trillion) at the end of the first quarter of this year, ranking ninth among major banks in the country, according to its own data. The bank had a net profit of CNY23.9 billion (USD3.7 billion) in the quarter, up 13.7 percent from a year earlier.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione