With a career of three decades and experience at banks such as Credit Agricole and JP Morgan and HSBC, the new China head takes up his position in July.

Citigroup has appointed Wenjie Zhang as country officer and banking head for China, and president and executive director for Citibank (China) Co, subject to regulatory approvals. 

He is replacing Aveline San (who is and will remain Hong Kong CCO and Banking Head )who was interim for China after Luke Lu resigned for personal reasons late last year, a spokesperson for Citigroup told this news service when asked about the matter.

Zhang will be the lead representative for the US bank and its face for the mainland China market, it said in a statement yesterday. 

Prior to this appointment, Zhang – who is based in Shanghai – was the president of China and Shanghai branch manager for Bank of America China. He was also co-head of global banking and executive vice president of HSBC China, after working at JP Morgan, Citigroup, and Credit Agricole CIB. 

In his new post, Zhang, who will be joining Citigroup in July, will report to Marc Luet, Citigroup’s head of Japan, Asia North and Australia and Banking. 

With a 30-year financial sector career under his belt, Zhang started in Sinochem Group in the finance and treasury function. He holds a master of business administration from York University’s Schulich School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China.