The CEO and vice chairman of the Chinese banking giant has resigned and is to be replaced, the bank has announced.

Bank of China announced the resignation of its vice chairman, executive director and chief executive, He Guangbei. Guangbei said he has stepped down because of “age reasons”.

Guangbei will be succeeded by Yue Yi, who has been with the firm since 1980 and assumes the role of executive director, vice chairman and chief executive of the bank with immediate effect.

The bank said that Guangbei has confirmed that he has “no disagreement with the board and there are no matters with respect to his resignation that need to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of the company”.

Yue Yi had been the executive vice president of Bank of China since August 2010 and also served as non-executive director, a member of BoC’s risk committee and the strategy and budget committee since May 2014. Yi also served as a member of the group executive committee and chairman of the risk management and internal control committee.

Over recent years he has held a number of chairmanships within the business, including chairman of Bank of China (UK), chairman of the board of directors of BOC International Holdings and chairman of the board of directors of Bank of China (Luxembourg). He has also served as chairman of Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management Company.

Yi joined BoC in 1980, at first holding senior positions within the firm’s Beijing and Seoul branches, before assuming a number of senior management roles across the business.

The company said that Yi will receive a director’s fee of HK$200,000 ($216,551) per annum, as approved by the shareholders at BoC’s most recent general meeting.

The announcement follows an exclusive report in this publication last week of the appointment of former BoC banker, Nitin Birla, at Standard Chartered.