L.R. Capital Group (“L.R. Capital” or “the Group”), a global investment company and multi-family office, recently announced that Mr. Raymond Yung, CEO, has been appointed as an Independent Non-executive Director of Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd. (“Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank” or “the Bank”) is a leading rural commercial bank in China and ranks first in Guangdong Province among its peers in terms of various indicators. According to the “Top 1000 Global Banks” in 2016 by the British magazine “The Banker”, Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank ranked 203rd among the banks in the world, the 29th in China’s banking sector and the fourth among the rural commercial banks in China in terms of tier 1 capital. In addition, Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank is the only rural commercial bank that has been recognised as the Top 500 Chinese enterprises for two consecutive years. With over 60 years of history, Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank is based in Guangzhou, with its network spanning nationwide. It has the largest number of outlets in Guangzhou, with regional operations across China and a diversified business model. As of the end of 2015, Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank had total assets of over RMB 580bn and recorded net profit of RMB 5bn.
Mr. Raymond Yung is a well-respected professional in Asia and has extensive experience in operational restructuring and development strategies for Chinese financial institutions. With nearly 40 years of credentials in advising the financial services sectors, Mr. Yung has developed a strong reputation and influence in the capital markets in Hong Kong and China. Since July 2016, Mr. Yung has been appointed as the CEO of L.R. Capital Group, overseeing the management of the Group in Asia. Mr. Yung was a special advisor to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in relation to internal controls and accounting matters, and a member of the Banking Advisory Committee in the HKMA, and is familiar with the regulations of onshore and offshore financial institutions. Prior to joining L.R. Capital, Mr. Yung served as the China Leader for PwC’s financial services practice since 2002 and a board member of the PwC China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan firms. Under his leadership, PwC has built up a team of over 1,000 professionals in China. During his tenure with PwC, Mr. Yung served various onshore and offshore financial institutions including Bank of China, Bank of China (Hong Kong), China Development Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and China Minsheng Bank. Mr. Yung has been heavily involved in the reform of many Chinese state-owned banks and was one of the key authors of the “PwC China Bank Reform Roadmap”, providing advice on financial and operational restructuring and financial reporting of banks. The suggestions made in the Roadmap proved to be very useful and played an important role in China’s banking sector reform, as the advice were adopted by many state-owned banks and regulators. Mr. Yung also served as the financial services industry leader Arthur Andersen, providing services to the Hong Kong banking sector for over 20 years.
In August 2016, Mr. Raymond Yung was nominated as the Independent Non-executive Director at the 24th meeting of the second session of the Board of Directors of Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank. In addition, he was also nominated as a member of the Strategy and Investment Committee (Sannong Committee), the Nomination and Remuneration Committee as well as the Audit Committee. Mr. Yung was formally elected to the second session of the Board of Directors at the extraordinary general meeting of Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank in September. According to Chinese regulatory requirements, Mr. Yung’s term of service will begin from the date of approval by the China Banking Regulatory Commission. Mr. Yung’s appointment to the Board of Directors will contribute to the future strategic development of Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank, improve the corporate governance structure, enhance the operation and management effectiveness and promote the internationalization process.
As a global leading professional investment company and multi-family office, L.R. Capital is continuously expanding investment of resources and capital in Greater China, aiming to enhance its market presence in the global financial service sector. Key investments highlights include US$250mm in GF Securities HK IPO as one of the largest cornerstone investor, US$130mm in China Taiping H-share placement, investment in H-share IPO of Huatai Securities, Legend Holdings and China Reinsurance Group, investment of in Fosun International (656.HK) through a new share placement, co-investor with Standard Chartered bank in Dianrong.com, a Chinese leading Fintech company, investment in Credible.com, an American leading Fintech company, etc. After years of growth, L.R. Capital has successfully established a comprehensive investment portfolio spanning across the banking, insurance, reinsurance, fintech, asset management, new energy, technology, and healthcare industries, which also realized unique synergies among the global platform supported by portfolio companies.
L.R. Capital also focuses its attention in the investment in new economy. On November 2015, L.R. Capital became a strategic investor of UCAR, a China-based chauffeured car rental company, which successfully listed on National Equities Exchange and Quotations (“NEEQ”, also known as the “New Third Board”) as the largest NEEQ-listed company by market capitalisation. L.R. Capital ALSO invested in the world’s largest one-stop diversified travel platform DIDI Chuxing, AND China’s leading new energy company Xinte Energy, and China’s leading second-hand car trading platform Youche.com; and a leading US Internet education company Peachjar. In December 2016, L.R. Capital announced the investment of HK$2.06bn(US$266mm) in the privatization of the H shares listing of Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co., Ltd, the world’s largest real estate enterprises to support the fourth transformation of Wanda’s business model. In the future, L.R. Capital will further leverage on its strong capital platform, rich network of resources, versatile and mature operating model, global investment expertise and risk management capabilities to link the resources and capital of China and the global market, thus delivering unique value to our global portfolio companies. L.R. Capital will promote technology innovation by offering vital capital and resources, and forge an international, innovative strategic investment platform.