The chairman of the China Construction Bank (CCB,
Exact reasons for Zhang Enzhao's (
The bank is one of China's top four state-owned commercial banks which are being restructured and groomed for eventual stock market listings, with CCB expected to debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong later this year.
The central government was set to announce Zhang's sacking later this week, the report said, citing sources close to the bank.
Wu Xiaoling (
Officials at CCB could not immediately be reached for comment. Other employees refused to say whether Zhang was still working.
An official from the China Banking Regulatory Commission also declined to comment.
Zhang, 59, ironically became CCB president in 2002, replacing Wang Xuebing (
The dismissal of Zhang could deal a major blow to the bank's efforts to sell a strategic stake to international banking giants before its initial public offering aimed at raising up to US$5 billion, the Post said.
The CCB is also investigating the disappearance of at least US$8 million from a branch in Jilin Province, reports said last month.
The scandals are likely to spark more debate over the rush to list state banks, which the government hopes will make the banking system more competitive ahead of liberalization of the sector in early 2007. However, some officials are concerned the rush to list could be counter-productive and risks damaging investor confidence.
The scandals underline the weak supervision plaguing China's banking system, which allowed 4,000 officials to flee with US$50 billion in cash as of this year, state media said on Friday.
The Bank of China, another listing candidate for this year with CCB, is also investigating the disappearance of around US$120 million from a branch in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.
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