The future is golden as Citi looks forward to another century in HK amid growing mainland opportunities, says Weber Lo, chief executive officer for HK and Macao. Sophie He reports.

Citi has been in Hong Kong for over 100 years and it wants to keep going for another century, as it sees growing opportunities with the Chinese mainland opening up and the internationalization of the renminbi, said Weber Lo, chief executive officer for Hong Kong and Macao at Citibank.

Renminbi internationalization has provided a lot of room for business for banks in Hong Kong, which are now able to develop many yuan products for corporate clients and consumers, said Lo.

"We can also provide a lot of investment vehicles for mainland clients. Recently, the renminbi has depreciated a little, (and) many corporate and retail clients have come to us as they want to diversify their investment into other currencies," Lo told China Daily.

He explained that since the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US greenback, clients can easily diversify their portfolio by investing in Hong Kong.

That is the reason the central government has launched the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect as well as the mutual fund recognition program, and hopefully the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect will launch soon, he said.

Whether it is from an asset-management perspective, a cross-border trading perspective or from a wealth-management perspective, Citi and other lenders doing business in Hong Kong have a lot of opportunities, Lo added.

When the Chinese mainland opened up, the first place to benefit was Hong Kong, he noted.

"If you look at Hong Kong's role in renminbi internationalization, in which Hong Kong has done pretty well since 2004, when we launched the CNH (offshore Chinese yuan) in Hong Kong, the deposit balance is already near a trillion yuan, it is extraordinary," he said.

"I truly believe that with the opening up of the Chinese mainland with its vast market, we will get a lot more benefit."

Lo stressed that after the global financial crisis in 2008, Citi has become a true global bank, and there are only a few global banks remaining as, after the crisis, a lot of Citi's competitors have had to rationalize their footprint.

"Currently, in the whole world we have 200 million customers, and we are covering 160 countries and jurisdictions," said Lo.

Hong Kong is a strategic hub that is very important for Citi's global positioning, and the bank would like to put in more resources to grow its businesses here, he said.

Not only because it believes in the market here but also because it believes the revenue pool here is big.

"The purchase of a landmark office building in Kowloon East also shows our long-term commitment to Hong Kong," said Lo.

In June 2014, Citigroup Inc paid a record HK$5.4 billion to developer Wheelock & Co for a 512,000 square foot Hong Kong office tower.

"Citi has a history in Hong Kong of 113 years, we have a proven record. We believe we will be here for the next hundred years, thus we will continue to invest here," said Lo.

Lo said he joined Citi in 2000, but he started his career in the marketing division of consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1993, after graduating from The University of Hong Kong.

Later he moved on to Coca-Cola in Beijing and stayed in the capital for four years, followed by a short stint in the IT industry.

"If you look at the first seven to eight years of my career, I was working in fast consumer product companies, then 15 years in the banking industry."

After joining Citi, Lo was made head of Bankcard in 2001, then country marketing director and director of retail banking in 2003.

He became chief operating officer 2004. He also received the "Promising Young Banker of the Year" award at the Asian Banker Achievement Awards in 2008. Weber eventually rose to become Citi's chief executive officer for Hong Kong and Macao in 2013.

From P&G to Citi, Lo does not believe it was a big change.

"So if I'm in P&G, I'm selling shampoo, and it is not much different from working in Coca Cola and selling Coke; and I believe it is also no different from working in a bank and selling credit cards."

There was also a personal reason behind his moving from the retail sector to the banking industry, Lo revealed.

At the time Lo's parents were planning for their retirement, and his sister and her family had immigrated to Australia.

So Lo thought he should come back to Hong Kong and take care of his parents.

"If I wanted to stay in the consumer product company, the mainland was the ideal place, as consumer product companies in Hong Kong are too small and most have moved their operations to the Chinese mainland," he said.

The key for him was that if he had to come back, he needed to find an industry that would continue to flourish, and the banking industry was definitely one of them.

Lo believes that organizations like Citi can provide many opportunities for young professionals in Hong Kong, as meritocracy is part of Citi's culture.

Citi is willing to take risks on young people - because taking risks on young talents will fast track their growth and career, or "you will never know how strong they can be".

"That's why we have a lot of senior staff who are young," Lo pointed out.

As a leader, Lo said his business philosophy can be summed up as the three "Es" - envision, enable, energize.

"We need to provide a vision to the employees, tell them exactly what we expect them to achieve, where to go, where is the destination.

And of course, we need to empower them, we have to give them tools, we have to equip them with proper knowledge, to train them."

"At the end of the day we have to mobilize and energize them, if they are tired, we have to support them, if they are doing well, we need to reward them."

For ambitious youngsters in Hong Kong, Lo has this message: "You own your career, not the company you are working for."

Someone will give you opportunities, someone will take risks on you, but you need to step up first, you have to step up and tell people that you want to do this, tell your supervisor that you do not mind doing extra work or walking the extra mile to help others.

Contact the writer at sophiehe@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 10/19/2015 page6)