By staff reporter Li Jing and intern reporter Hu Yinan

Central Huijin Investment, an arm of China’s central bank, has announced a board reshuffle and the appointment of Lou Jiwei as chairman and party chief.

Lou, 57, also serves as chairman of China Investment Corp. (CIC), a state-owned investment firm that took over Central Huijin last year.

This is first front-office change announced to the public since Central Huijin was launched in 2003 with Guo Shuqing, the former director-general of State Administration of Foreign Exchange, as their appointed chairman.

Caijing learned that the State Council has approved Central Huijin’s reshuffle plan.

The plan calls for a board with five directors, including deputy chairman Li Jiange, former vice president of the State Council’s Development Research Center; executive director Xie Ping, general manager of Central Huijin; and independent directors Wu Xiaoling, a former vice president at the central bank, and Jin Shulian, a former Ministry of Finance official.

Central Huijin owns major stakes in some of the country’s biggest lenders, including Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China Construction Bank.

A board makeover has been in the works since CIC’s takeover of Central Huijin last September.

Management changes at Central Huijin affiliates are expected to follow.

Caijing earlier reported that Li would be appointed chairman of China International Capital Corp. Ltd., a joint venture investment bank that’s 51 percent controlled by Central Huijin subsidiary China Jianyin Investment Ltd.