China CITIC Bank Corporation, one of the 12 joint-stock lenders that operate across the country, announced Wednesday it is getting a new president.

The lender’s board of directors has agreed to promote Fang Heying, a vice president of CITIC Bank and its financial director, as the president. The appointment will become official once it is approved by industry watchdog the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the bank said in a statement filed with the Shanghai bourse.

Fang, 52, replaces Sun Deshun, 60, who resigned “by reason of age” on Wednesday after holding the position for two and half years, according to the statement. Caixin has learned that Sun will continue to be the chairman of China CITIC Bank International, CITIC Bank’s arm in Hong Kong.

CITIC Bank is a key financial subsidiary of state-owned financial conglomerate CITIC Group. It led a group of domestic banks to provide $12.5 billion in syndicated loans to ChemChina to help fund the state-owned company’s $49 billion takeover of Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta AG in 2017, which remains China’s biggest overseas acquisition to date. CITIC Bank also offered a separate $200 million loan to supplement ChemChina’s operating capital. The bank intended to increase its influence in the international acquisition market to expand its investment banking business, a source close to the deal told Caixin previously.

CITIC Bank had 6.07 trillion yuan ($907.4 billion) in total assets at the end of 2018, up 6.83% from the previous year. Its net profit rose 4.57% to 44.5 billion yuan last year. The non-performing loan ratio at the bank stood at 1.77% as of end 2018, up from 1.68% a year ago.

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