Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will hire Lee Zhang, former chairman of Deutsche Bank China (DB.NYSE), as one if its vice presidents, the Wall Street Journal reported. Zhang will become the first senior manager at a major Chinese bank to be recruited from a foreign bank. State-owned firms have traditionally struggled to recruit and retain Chinese talent from international companies, but have redoubled their efforts during the financial crisis. Last year the State Administration of Foreign Exchange hired Changhong Zhu, then head of derivatives at Allianz SE’s Pacific Investment Management, and sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp recruited Bill Lu of Tudor Investment. Most returning executives take large pay cuts when they move into Chinese companies, which makes poaching talent difficult, but Beijing is sensitive to criticism of large pay differentials.
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