The 55-year-old chairman of the trust company unexpectedly passed away due to a heart attack! He was the "firefighter" of Guoxin Trust, taking on both the roles of Party Committee Secretary and Chairman. Two days before his death, he was still on a business trip. He had served as Chairman for only three months and as Party Committee Secretary for just eight months.

Ask AI · How did Tang Jian respond to the 2024 regulatory crisis faced by Guotong Trust?

Tang Jian, the “firefighting captain” of Guotong Trust, died unexpectedly of a heart attack, at the age of 55.

According to reports from multiple media outlets including The Securities Times, Tang Jian, Party Secretary and Chairman of Guotong Trust, died unexpectedly on March 20 due to a sudden heart attack, at the age of 55. This was only 8 months after he took office as Party Secretary, and he held both the positions of Party Secretary and Chairman for just 3 months. Two days before his death, Tang Jian was still traveling on business.

The “firefighting captain” at Guotong Trust

Public résumé information shows that Tang Jian was born in May 1970, from Hubei Province, with an undergraduate degree. Tang Jian came from Wuhan Financial Holdings Group, having worked in the financial sector for many years. He previously worked for many years at Wuhan Rural Commercial Bank; later, he served as Deputy Party Secretary of Hubei Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., as well as Vice Chairman and General Manager, and also held roles such as Party Secretary and Chairman. In August 2025, Tang Jian was transferred to serve as Party Secretary of Guotong Trust. The person Tang Jian succeeded at Guotong Trust was Chen Jianxin, who had served as Party Secretary of Guotong Trust since December 2019 and as Chairman of Guotong Trust since November 2020.

In this case, Tang Jian’s appointment as Party Secretary of Guotong Trust carries a strong sense of a “firefighting captain.”

In 2024, Guotong Trust with a Wuhan state-owned assets background suffered a major setback.

In June 2024, the Hubei Regulatory Bureau of the National Financial Regulatory Administration issued 22 administrative penalties to Guotong Trust in a single round, covering issues such as business development compliance, post-investment management, and risk disclosure. For example: “the risk base is not factual, concealing off-balance-sheet risk assets and understating on-balance-sheet non-performing assets,” “inadequate post-investment management, leading to trust funds flowing unlawfully into prohibited areas,” “conducting conduit business in violation of regulations,” and “failure to sufficiently disclose project risks to investors during project issuance,” among many other problems.

Guotong Trust was fined RMB 5.85 million, and 18 responsible persons were given warnings. In addition, three main responsible persons were given warnings and fined a total of RMB 460k.

Among them, Cao Yang, the then Vice President of Guotong Trust, was held responsible for the failure to sufficiently disclose project risks to investors during project issuance, and was given a warning and fined RMB 460k. Zou Xiaolei, the then Assistant to the President of Guotong Trust, was held responsible for inadequate post-investment management, conducting Zhengxin business in violation of regulations, and failure to sufficiently disclose project risks to investors during project issuance, and was given a warning and fined RMB 60k.

The number of responsible persons involved in this case is extremely rare in the trust industry, and the total fines set a new high for the trust industry’s single-penalty amounts in 2024.

Across 2024, Guotong Trust achieved operating income of RMB 936 million, down 18.36% year over year, and net profit of RMB 390 million, down 28.53% year over year. Both operating income and net profit declined at the same time. According to incomplete statistics, multiple trust products of Guotong Trust were delayed, and the underlying assets mainly involve real estate and “Zhengxin” matters (government-affiliated trust-related arrangements). Of these, real estate is mainly concentrated in leading private enterprises, such as Evergrande, Sunac, Fantasia, and Agile, among others.

Consolidating the burdens of Party Secretary and Chairman into one pair of shoulders

Since the end of 2024, Guotong Trust has started to reshuffle personnel frequently. Among them, Liu Yonghong was approved to serve as Vice President of Guotong Trust; Liu Qian was approved to serve as Assistant to the Company President; Li Yantao was approved to serve as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer; Liu Wei and Dan Qishun were approved to serve as directors of Guotong Trust. In August 2025, Tang Jian was transferred to serve as Party Secretary of Guotong Trust. In December 2025, the Hubei Financial Regulatory Bureau approved Tang Jian’s appointment qualifications as director and chairman of Guotong Trust.

By this point, Tang Jian will shoulder the burdens of both Party Secretary and Chairman.

Still traveling on business two days before his death

After Tang Jian took office as Party Secretary, he had repeatedly led teams to visit regulatory authorities, traveling across the country for research, visits, project supervision, and other activities.

In September 2025, Tang Jian, in his capacity as Party Secretary of Guotong Trust, led a delegation to visit China Trust Industry Protection Fund Co., Ltd. At that time, Tang Jian said that after the new leadership team took office, Guotong Trust would further focus and unite, pursue truth and implement initiatives, and lead the cadre team to continuously enhance its combat capability. He mentioned that Guotong Trust actively transforms, grounded in local needs, empowering Wuhan, deeply cultivating business areas such as bankruptcy reorganization service trusts, and continuously driving business innovation and high-quality development.

That same month, Tang Jian led teams to Quanzhou City in Fujian Province and Ma’anshan City in Anhui Province, respectively. They carried out supervision and collection efforts to resolve the risk and securitization of Eastxing Trust Plan No. 603 and Eastxing Trust Plan No. 870, gaining a detailed understanding of market conditions surrounding the project assets and their disposal progress, to provide a basis for formulating a precise risk resolution plan.

In December 2025, Tang Jian also led a team to the Guangdong business department to inspect work, making specific arrangements for the end-of-year sprint and closing as well as safety production work; at the same time, they also carried out on-site supervision of relevant overdue projects.

One month earlier, at Guotong Trust’s 2026 annual work meeting, Tang Jian said that it was necessary to strengthen risk and compliance awareness, treating compliance as the bottom line, strictly controlling the addition of new non-performing items, properly resolving existing non-performing items, and earnestly fulfilling the principle of “entrusting one’s work to others and staying loyal to one’s duty,” to safeguard investors’ lawful rights and interests.

Just two days before Tang Jian’s unexpected death, he was still traveling on business. On March 18, Tang Jian led a delegation to Hangzhou, where he held a three-party exchange and symposium with You Jiang, Party Secretary and Chairman of AVIC Trust, and Xu Xiaodong, Party Secretary and Chairman of Zhejiang Shangjin Jinhui Trust. They focused on coordinated progress in key projects and consolidated shared understandings for cooperation. At the time, Tang Jian said that Guotong Trust always places maintaining investors’ lawful rights and interests first, strictly observes the bottom line of risk prevention and control, and hopes that the three parties will work together to ensure projects are implemented in a稳妥 manner, safeguarding the interests of all parties.