You’ve made it to vice president (VP) rank at a bank in Singapore. But you’re not satisfied – you want to make director and you want to move to a larger Asian financial centre, Hong Kong.
The stuff of dreams? Not necessarily – plenty of Singaporeans have found senior success in the Hong Kong banking sector.
We’ve looked at online profiles of bankers who graduated in Singapore and started their careers there, but then went on to find jobs above VP-level in Hong Kong. Here’s a sample – maybe they’ll inspire you!
Eric Sim, UBS: helping budding bankers with their careers
Sim, who moved to Hong Kong in 2011 after a 17-year career at DBS, Standard Chartered, Citi and ANZ in Singapore, is a managing director of corporate client solutions at UBS. He’s also something of a careers guru for aspiring finance professionals. As a guest lecturer at Peking University and Nanyang Technological University, Sim teaches ‘super selling skills’, ‘time management’ and ‘changing people’s minds’. He’s given talks at various universities (including Cambridge) on ‘climbing the corporate ladder’, and he recently spoke at a TEDx event about ‘how to enjoy work life’.
Lee Boon Yong, MUFG: transaction banking supremo
With a plethora of firms looking to hire staff in steady-revenue transaction banking, Lee has a CV to make recruiters come running. The National University of Singapore (NUS) graduate joined MUFG last June as regional head of transaction banking sales for Greater China and East Asia, after a nine-year stint as a director and MD at Standard Chartered. In 2005 and 2006 she was head of global transaction services China for DBS, helping the Singaporean firm to begin its big regional expansion.
John Chua, HSBC: regional risk expert
Risk skills and regional expertise are in strong demand in Asia – Chua, HSBC’s regional head of Asia Pacific traded risk control, has them both in bundles. Chua relocated to Hong Kong in 2013 and like Lee came from Standard Chartered, where he held several senior positions in Singapore and London, including global head of credit control and reporting. Chua didn’t start his risk career at a bank, however. As a graduate in 1999 he joined Singapore’s stock exchange and worked there for almost five years in derivative risk management.
Pearlyn Phau, DBS: from SG to HK and back again
Phau returned to Singapore last month – but working in Hong Kong, where she led the local consumer banking and private banking businesses, helped establish her as a major player in Asian banking. Phau was already a senior DBS staffer when she moved to Hong Kong in 2012 – she joined the firm in 2003 and headed its investment bank. She’s now come back to Singapore on the back of a promotion to deputy group head of consumer banking and wealth management, helping to lead the firm’s growth in private banking following its takeover of Societe Generale’s Asian wealth unit in 2014.
Su Ee Than, OCBC: on a regional roll
Than is the head of global investment banking for Greater China at OCBC. Like Phau, he has benefited from the recent expansion of Singaporean banks across Asia and the wider range of regional roles this has created. He joined OCBC in Singapore in 2003 and four years later moved to Shanghai to head the private equity and special opportunities group for China. After a senior stint back in Singapore, he moved to Hong Kong in July last year where he now leads a 20-strong team of bankers covering loan syndication, fixed income, private equity, equity capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions.
Evan Xu, Goldman Sachs: rising rapidly up the ranks
Xu made a seemingly unfortunate career decision in 2008 – he joined Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong in July of that year, two months before the firm went bankrupt. But the move didn’t damper his ambitions. He was retained by Nomura when it took over Lehman’s Asian operations and he performed well enough to snag a job as a financial institutions group (FIG) associate at Goldman Sachs in 2010. Xu, who has a Masters in Engineering from NUS, received a big promotion in 2014 – he’s now an executive director.
Chao Li, Standard Chartered: syndicate star
In 2006 Li was working for a software engineering company in San Francisco having recently graduated with engineering degrees from both NUS and Harvard. But in February 2008 Li decided to leave Silicone Valley and join the Singapore banking sector. An engineering background isn’t the only thing he has in common with Xu: he also moved just before the financial crisis and he moved to…RBS. Yet Li didn’t fall victim to ‘last in, first out’ – by 2012 he was still at RBS and he’d achieved a very rapid promotion to director level in the bond syndicate team. In November 2012 – a mere six years after starting his banking career – Li was poached by Standard Chartered in Hong Kong and made head of its Greater China bond syndicate.
Yong Wah Tan, HKMA: at the top of regulatory tech
Tan is a (very) loyal employee. After taking a graduate job at DBS, Tan joined Banking Computer Services, a Singapore-based clearing and payments company, in 1983 and stayed there until 1995, eventually becoming general manager. He then moved to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and has remained there ever since. Tan’s first three years were spent as a technical advisor and he was then promoted to his current job as chief information officer – as the HKMA tries to keep Hong Kong’s financial system stable, Tan is ensuring the stability of its IT systems.
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