Ningbo Bank's "Leadership Change" to Welcome the Youngest Chairman of an A-Share Listed Bank

On February 26, the city commercial bank with total assets exceeding 3.6 trillion yuan, Ningbo Bank, announced a series of personnel changes:

The bank’s 9th Board of Directors meeting elected Zhuang Lingjun as Chairman of the 9th Board of Directors, and also approved the appointment of Feng Peijiong as the bank’s President.

Both appointments are pending final approval from the Ningbo Regulatory Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. Until then, the Board has designated both to perform the duties of Chairman and President respectively.

Along with this leadership change, the former Chairman Lu Huayu, who had been at the helm of Ningbo Bank for over twenty years, has officially retired upon reaching retirement age.

It is reported that Zhuang Lingjun, born in July 1979, is a senior executive cultivated from within Ningbo Bank’s internal talent pool.

Looking at her career history, Zhuang Lingjun has previously served as Assistant to the Head of Ningbo Bank’s Beilun Branch, Assistant General Manager of the Retail Banking Department at the head office, Vice President of Shenzhen Branch, General Manager of the Risk Management Department at the head office, and President of Beijing Branch.

In October 2019, she was appointed Vice President of Ningbo Bank, marking her entry into the senior management team. Since April 2022, she has served as President of Ningbo Bank.

Notably, the youngest chairman among listed banks in A-shares is currently Liang Yanbo of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank, born in August 1978.

Once Zhuang Lingjun’s qualification for Chairman is officially approved, this record will be broken. At under 47 years old, Zhuang Lingjun will become the youngest Chairman among A-share listed banks.

Her new partner, Feng Peijiong, also a veteran of Ningbo Bank.

Data shows that Feng Peijiong was born in November 1974, and has previously served as General Manager of the Human Resources Department at the head office, General Manager of the Retail Banking Department and Credit Card Center, and President of Suzhou Branch. Since 2015, he has been Vice President of the bank, with extensive cross-line business management experience.

The full succession of these two “post-70s” senior executives marks Ningbo Bank’s official transition into a new era of younger, more professional management.

According to Ningbo Bank’s recent performance brief for 2025, as of the end of 2025, the bank’s total assets reached 3,628.601 billion yuan, a 16.11% increase from the beginning of the year, maintaining a steady double-digit growth rate.

In terms of operating efficiency, Ningbo Bank continues to show strong profitability resilience amid a complex macro environment:

For the full year of 2025, the bank achieved operating income of 71.968 billion yuan, an increase of 8.01%; net profit attributable to parent company shareholders was 29.333 billion yuan, up 8.13%.

This growth rate places it among the relatively leading tier of listed banks based on current disclosed data.

Looking at the income structure, the sustained growth of light capital businesses has become a key engine:

In 2025, Ningbo Bank’s net interest income was 53.161 billion yuan, up 10.77%; fee and commission income reached 6.085 billion yuan, a significant increase of 30.72%, further optimizing its business structure.

Regarding asset quality, a core indicator, Ningbo Bank continues to maintain a good industry level.

By the end of 2025, non-performing loans (NPL) stood at 13.147 billion yuan, with the NPL ratio stable at 0.76%, unchanged from the end of the previous year; the loan loss reserve coverage ratio reached 373.16%, indicating sufficient risk buffers.

With the new management team in place, the bank faces a solid foundation but also industry-wide challenges such as narrowing net interest margins and the structural transformation of real economy credit demand.

On the asset side, with multiple cuts in the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) and overall decline in market interest rates, balancing credit volume and pricing, and seeking high-yield assets, will be practical issues for Zhuang Lingjun and Feng Peijiong.

Market expectations generally believe that Ningbo Bank will continue to leverage the economic vitality of the Yangtze River Delta and Zhejiang region, adhering to the differentiated positioning of “big banks can’t do well, small banks can’t do it.”

How the “young duo” of Zhuang and Feng leads this 3.6 trillion city commercial bank to continue deepening its engagement in the real economy and wealth management, while managing risks and maintaining high growth, remains to be seen.

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