THERE has been a shake-up at the top of Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland's Chinese business after Sherry Liu, its China chairwoman and chief executive, resigned to pursue "outside interests".

Ms Liu, a former JPMorgan banker who took up the post just over a year ago, will remain with RBS as an adviser.

The move means that Alex Chu, who is head of international banking for north Asia at RBS, will chair the board of RBS China.

Qing Cheng Hua, another former JPMorgan banker, will remain as country executive.

In the run-up to the credit crunch, Royal Bank of Scotland made important inroads into China, a process that was accelerated with its purchase of Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007.

This was scaled back after its bailout by the UK taxpayer in 2008.

In early 2009, 82% state-owned RBS sold its 4.3% stake in Bank of China for £1.6 billion, just four years after acquiring a holding.

Earlier this year, RBS agreed to sell most of its cash-equities and associated investment-banking business in the Asian-Pacific region to CIMB Group Holdings, Malaysia's second-largest bank by assets. Ms Liu was at one point linked with a move to CIMB.

But RBS retains a presence in the fast-growing market. RBS has around 300 people in China, across five locally incorporated branches. It focuses on wholesale banking areas, catering to large companies in areas such as debt capital markets, cash management, risk management and trade finance.

It also has three joint ventures including Huaying Securities, which was launched in partnership with Guolian Securities last year, and offers underwriting for local stocks and bonds. Ms Liu, who is well known in Asian banking circles, joined RBS in April 2011, where she was responsible for its strategy in China in areas including banking, markets, wealth management, and RBS's joint ventures in China.

Previously she was vice-chairwoman of JPMorgan's businesses in China.