Liu had the good fortune to graduate in 1976 from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, long a training ground for top civil servants. The Cultural Revolution was ending after a decade in which many students had been unable to complete their studies, and the country was about to embark on a quarter century of rapid economic growth in which any expertise in economics and business was frequently a ticket to personal success.
Liu joined the Bank of China immediately upon graduation and went to London the following year to work for the bank as a foreign exchange and gold bullion trader. He was transferred to Shanghai in 1981 and worked his way up to general manager of the Shanghai branch in 1994 before being transferred in 1997 to run the Hong Kong operation.
Dow Jones reported from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that Zhang Yanling, the executive vice president of the Bank of China, told reporters at a conference there on Friday that the bank was still on track for an initial public offering "maybe at the end of this year or early next year."
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