Wu Wei: Breaking from convention

IN ADDITION

Fifty years of Asia The profiles: 23 of the biggest names in Asia Zafrul Aziz Laura Cha Wei Sun Christianson Piyush Gupta Uday Kotak Reuben Lai Boon Chye Loh Agus Martowardojo Raghuram Rajan Jahja Setiaatmadja Weijian Shan Alan Smith Teh Hong Piow Tian Huiyu Sun Yu Nestor Tan Wee Ee Cheong Kartika Wirjoatmodjo Peter Wong Daniel Wu Joseph Yam Zeti Akhtar Aziz

Bank of Communications (BoComm) has a long and distinct history in China. Founded in 1908, it was one of the four note-issuing banks in China. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, it played a key role in financial reform and was restructured in 1986/87 to help revitalize Shanghai and build it into a financial centre.

“We were the first one to break from the conventional Chinese banking system and to build a real commercial banking system,” says executive vice-president and chief financial officer Wu Wei. The sale of a 19.9% stake to HSBC in 2004 was a landmark development. “Bank of Communications has always been the pioneer of reform.”

Wu Wei, BoComm

Today, an ambition is to build the best wealth management bank in the country, using technology for momentum and to control risk.