A former senior executive of Bank of Guizhou (HKEx: 06199) has been sentenced for corruption. On March 18, 2026, the Liupanshui Intermediate People's Court in Guizhou Province delivered a first-instance verdict in the case of Xu An, former Deputy Party Secretary, President, and Director of Bank of Guizhou, who was charged with bribery, embezzlement, and money laundering. The court sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve, combining penalties for multiple crimes.
The sentencing comes just over three months after Xu An's former colleague, Li Zhiming, the bank's ex-chairman, was sentenced to 16 years and 6 months in prison.
The court found that between 2005 and 2023, Xu An exploited his official positions to assist certain entities and individuals with loan approvals and project acquisitions. He directly or colluded with others to illegally accept assets equivalent to more than 168 million yuan, though some benefits were not actually obtained.
With both former key executives now sentenced, Bank of Guizhou's multi-year anti-corruption campaign has reached a significant milestone. Financial reports indicate that under new leadership, the bank's operations have gradually returned to growth. In the first half of 2025, the bank achieved year-on-year increases in both revenue and net profit, with total assets exceeding 600 billion yuan.
The court determined that Xu An's illegal activities spanned 18 years from 2005 to 2023. During this period, he held various positions including Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of the former Anshun City Credit Cooperative, Party Secretary and Chairman of the former Anshun City Commercial Bank, and various roles at Bank of Guizhou including Party Committee Member, Vice President, President, and Director.
In addition to bribery charges, Xu An was convicted of embezzlement and money laundering. The court noted the particularly large amounts involved in both bribery and embezzlement crimes. Mitigating factors included partial attempted bribery, truthful confession of crimes after detention, voluntary disclosure of some bribery matters not previously known to investigators, and active cooperation in returning illicit assets.
The final sentence imposed death with a two-year reprieve for bribery, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property. Additional sentences included 10 years imprisonment and a 500,000 yuan fine for embezzlement, plus two years imprisonment and a 50,000 yuan fine for money laundering. All illegal gains and associated interest will be recovered.
Bank of Guizhou, established in 2012 through the merger of three city commercial banks from Zunyi, Liupanshui, and Anshun, is a major state-owned enterprise under Guizhou provincial management. The bank listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 30, 2019.
Xu An joined the provincial commercial bank in its founding year and was promoted to President in April 2018. After approximately six years leading the bank, he resigned and was officially investigated on May 22, 2024. On February 8, 2025, Guizhou's disciplinary authorities announced his expulsion from the Party and public office, characterizing him as "feeding on finance through finance" by converting public power into a tool for personal gain.
Three months before Xu An's sentencing, his former colleague Li Zhiming received his first-instance judgment on December 4, 2025. Li was sentenced to 16 years and 6 months imprisonment and fined 2.7 million yuan for bribery and illegal loan issuance. The court found that between 2013 and 2023, Li used his positions as Vice President of Hubei Bank and Party Secretary and Chairman of Bank of Guizhou to assist certain entities and individuals with loan disbursements, illegally accepting assets worth over 43.1 million yuan. Additionally, between 2018 and 2020, while serving as Bank of Guizhou Chairman, Li knowingly approved loans totaling over 304 million yuan to enterprises that didn't meet lending criteria, causing particularly significant losses.
Following the departures of both executives, Bank of Guizhou established new leadership. In April 2021, Yang Mingshang, then General Manager of Guizhou Financial Holding Group, was recommended as Director and Chairman candidate, filling the vacancy left by Li Zhiming's resignation after receiving regulatory approval in July 2021. In January 2025, Wu Fan, previously the bank's Supervisor and Deputy Party Secretary, was officially approved as President.
The new leadership has prioritized compliance construction. During the bank's annual work conference in January 2025, Yang Mingshang and Wu Fan signed responsibility documents with branch heads regarding Party conduct, anti-corruption efforts, and 2025 performance targets, signaling strengthened internal controls and trust rebuilding.
Financially, Bank of Guizhou has shown stabilization and recovery after experiencing performance declines in 2023. In 2024, the bank achieved 12.418 billion yuan in operating revenue (up 9.46% year-on-year) and 3.779 billion yuan in net profit (up 3.43% year-on-year), with total assets reaching 589.987 billion yuan by year-end.
This growth continued into the first half of 2025, with operating revenue of 6.102 billion yuan (up 2.26% year-on-year) and net profit of 2.129 billion yuan (up 0.31% year-on-year). By June 2025, total assets reached 603.747 billion yuan, up 2.33% from the beginning of the year, while the non-performing loan ratio decreased to 1.69%. According to unaudited financial reports, assets further increased to 615.629 billion yuan by September 2025.