BEIJING, May 31 -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China's largest lender by market value, has appointed its president Yi Huiman as the new chairman.

Yi, 51 years old, was selected as the next chairman by the board of directors after the retirement of Jiang Jianqing, who had been in the post for 11 years, according to a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Yi will resign as the president and stay as vice chairman till the appointment is approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

The bank's shares traded on the bourse rallied 1.4 percent to 4.36 yuan (0.67 U.S. dollars) per share on Tuesday.

ICBC made 278 billion yuan of net profits last year, up 0.5 percent year on year.