BEIJING - Jiang Chaoliang, president of China Development Bank (CDB) and a recently revealed candidate to chair Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (ABC), will have the experience and boldness to make ABC more competitive through further reforms, industry insiders have said.

ABC, one of China's top four lenders, said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday that it has nominated 54-year-old Jiang to become executive director of the bank's board, a decision supported unanimously by the bank's 13 voting directors.

With a term of three years, the appointment needs to be approved by shareholders and ratified by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), said the statement.

Jiang is almost certain to fill the ABC chairmanship opening left by Xiang Junbo, who was promoted to chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission last month, said business insiders.

Leadership changes in China's major state-owned banks tend to draw attention in the country, as many of these leaders are seen as potential candidates for higher regulatory positions.

In last month's reshuffling, Guo Shuqing, former board chairman of China Construction Bank (CCB) and a former head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, replaced Shang Fulin as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Holding a master's degree in economics from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Jiang has a reputation of being reform-minded.

He had worked at ABC for 15 years before moving to the People's Bank of China (PBOC), or China's central bank, in 1996.

Jiang became assistant to the PBOC governor in 2000, deputy governor of Hubei province in 2002 and chairman of the Bank of Communications (BOCOM), China's fifth biggest lender, in 2004.

During his term, BOCOM introduced HSBC Holdings plc as its strategic investor and partner, and was successfully listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai -- a major transformation for a bank once ridden with bad loans.

Jiang is a vigorous and resolute man standing by his words and acting with decisiveness, a source with the banking industry said on condition of anonymity.

"He has the boldness to overcome any major obstacle in front of him," said the source, who cited the transformation of BOCOM as an example.

Jiang was attentive to specific businesses of the bank and made the restructuring of BOCOM a very efficient process, the source told Xinhua.

Having been president and vice chairman of CDB since 2008, Jiang is considered to be experienced in the operations of both policy banks and commercial banks.

As the last of the "big four" state-owned lenders to go public, ABC has lagged behind the three others in reforms and commercial operations while bearing the duty of supporting the development of rural China.

Jiang will face the task of making ABC a market-oriented and competitive state bank within a short period, said another source with the banking industry.

He will have to lead ABC to take on initiatives in rural banking business before its peers turn to the countryside from the urban market, said the source, who declined to be identified.

ABC was listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong last year and reported a net profit of 66.68 billion yuan ($10.5 billion) in the first half of 2011, up 45.4 percent year-on-year.