Resignation does not equal exoneration; the first chairman of Changle Rural Commercial Bank was permanently banned from the industry four years after stepping down.

Resignation does not equal exoneration; the first chairman of Changle Rural Commercial Bank was permanently banned from the industry four years after stepping down.

From a cashier at a grassroots credit cooperative, all the wayto becoming a bank chairman,Su Liangtao has worked in the financial sector for22years.Now, what awaits him is a lifetime ban from the industry.

On July7, the Fujian branch of the National Financial Regulatory Administration announced a penalty,for illegally issuing personal business loans, Changle Rural Commercial Bank was fined600,000yuan,and several responsible persons were held accountable at the same time. Among them, the bank’s former chairman Su Liangtao was given a lifetime ban from working in the banking industry.

At this timeSu Liangtaohad already resigned from the chairman position for four years, and such accountability is rarely seen in the rural commercial bank system.

This is already the third regulatory penalty received by Changle Rural Commercial Bank in the past four years,as the largest local corporate bank in the area, why did its compliance bottom line fall short again?

The Chairman Who Steered for Nine Years

Su Liangtao, born in 1974,from Yongtai, Fujian, holds a postgraduate degree. In September 1996he started working, beginning as a cashier, accountant, and loan officer at a grassroots credit cooperative, and later served as director of Fuzhou Cangshan Rural Credit Cooperative, deputy director of Minhou Rural Credit Cooperative Association, director of Changle Rural Credit Cooperative Association, assistant and deputy director of the business department at the provincial association.

With 22 years of financial experience, Su Liangtao advanced step by step from grassroots to leader, and he is considered a typical“pragmatist”within the rural credit system.

In 2013, Su Liangtao became chairman of Changle Rural Credit Cooperative Association. In October 2015, Changle Rural Commercial Bank was restructured and established from the original credit association, and Su Liangtao became the bank’s first chairman,holding the position for nearly9years.

However, during his tenure, compliance issues at Changle Rural Commercial Bank started to emerge

Three Penalties in Four Years

In January 2022, the former Fujian Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau issued a 1.5 millionyuan penalty to the bank.It exposedfiveviolations: negligent investigation before personal turnover loans, inadequate post-loan management for inclusive financial card loans, issuing mortgage loans for commercial properties without completion inspection, illegally issuing personal business loans, and negligent management of working capital loans.

At the time, Changle Rural Commercial Bank responded that the violationswere mainly caused byimproper actions of individual staff members, and relevant personnel had beenpunishedaccording to credit policies.

Two years later, a heavier penalty was imposed. The Fujian branch of the People’s Bank of China fined Changle Rural Commercial Bank3.41 millionyuanfor five violations including anti-money laundering.This was the largest penalty the bank has received since its establishment.

Violations included breaching financial statistics regulations, violating rules for credit information collection and inquiry, failing to fulfill customer identification obligations, failing to report large or suspicious transactions as required, and conducting transactions with unidentified customers.

The then president, the general manager of business development and risk compliance, and the general manager of digital finance were fined simultaneously, with fines ranging from31,000to73,000yuan.

Resignation Does Not Mean Exemption

In fact,“resignation does not mean exemption”has become a routine practice in financial regulation over the past two years. In 2025, over 100bank employees have been given lifetime bans industry-wide, and the scope and strength of accountabilityarestill expanding.

In May this year, Xi Ronggui, former vice president of Guangdong Branch of China Construction Bank, was investigated.He left CCB in September 2018 and joined Hopson as executive director and CEO, then resigned in2020,having left the bank for nearlyeightyears.

At the same time, Nanchang Rural Commercial Bank in Jiangxi was fined3.6 millionyuan for credit violations, with current and former presidents both being held accountable, and the former general manager of the credit approval department also named for punishment. Regulatory compliance constraints for bank executives have extended from“current performance”to“full-cycle compliance”.

The "Debts" of Rural Commercial Bank Restructuring

Changle Rural Commercial Bank has40branches, making it the local financial institution with the most outlets and broadest client base. However, its issuesamong rural commercial banksarenot unique

In recent years, regulatory scrutiny of rural commercial banks has intensified,many rural commercial banks nationwide were converted from former rural credit cooperatives, and restructuring brought more standardized corporate governance, but did not automatically clear legacy risks. Issues such as loans based on personal relationships, directive lending, etc., before restructuring, are often carried over into the new system.

Now,regulators are using practical actionsto push bank executives toward prudent management, prevent short-term scale expansion, and improve internal risk control balancing mechanisms.

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