The Guangdong Development Bank (GDB) will decide its new president and chairman on Dec. 18, a month after a consortium led by US banking giant Citigroup succeeded in a bid to buy an 85-percent stake, Caijing Magazine has reported.

Business transactions will be completed before shareholders meet to appoint the new heads, said the financial magazine.

Of the six-member consortium, Citigroup, China Life Insurance Group and China Guodian Group will each hold 20 percent of GDB shares and each can nominate three directors and an independent director in the new 17-member board.

The nominees must be approved by a shareholders meeting and the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said the magazine.

The president of GDB is likely to be nominated by the Citigroup, according to the Beijing News.

A seven-member interim administrative commission entered the bank last Tuesday, according to Caijing.

The Citigroup-led consortium signed a purchase agreement of 24.27 billion yuan (US$3.033 billion) with the GDB on Nov. 16, ending a lengthy battle with French bank Societe Generale and China's second largest insurer Ping An Group.

Citigroup would appoint a chief executive officer for the GDB after completing the purchase by the end of this year, the Beijing News quoted Richard Stanley, president of Citigroup China, as saying on Nov. 17.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2006)