Abstract

Dr Weihua Ma(马蔚华), CEO of China Merchants Bank (中国招商银行行长)

More Info As China’s first shareholding commercial bank wholly-owned by enterprises, China Merchants Bank (CMB) developed over 23 years to become the 5th largest bank in China, and the world’s top 30 banks by market value. Renowned in China as “The Best Retail Bank” and “The Best Private Bank”, CMB is ranked No.1 in the world by Financial Times, in terms of Price/Book ratio.

Dr Ma is well known for his ambition to take CMB global. In 2008,... the firm established its New York branch and took its first step towards globalisation by completing the largest acquisition in the Chinese banking industry. Dr Ma remarked after the transaction that “by acquiring this Hong Kong Bank, CMB is testing the road for prospective acquisitions of foreign banks”.

Dr Ma will discuss the current dynamics of the banking industry in emerging markets, and how his bank and the Chinese banking sector are facing the global financial crisis.