January 27, 2019, Shanghai – The CEIBS MBA Investment and Finance Club and the CEIBS FMBA Finance Club co-hosted a Financial Sectors Sharing Session today. Against a background of the China-US trade war, global economic slowdown, and technological development, FMBA alumni offered an introduction to the current status quo and the future prospects of different financial sectors, as well as their insights into different career pathways. The session also served as a platform for FMBA and MBA students to further develop long-term mentorships and partnerships, and provided a great opportunity for CEIBS finance experts to network with each other.

Insurance

The first speaker, Xuemei Wu (FMBA 17), is an entrepreneur and a former General Manager of Operations at Taiping General Insurance. She has extensive experience in the insurance industry and has just launched her own business. In her view, the core competitive advantage of insurance providers in Mainland China comes from the extensive use of financial technologies. Advanced mobile apps simplify the process of customer reimbursement and improve customer loyalty. The insurance industry has experienced a boom in the past few years, but slowed down in 2018. Property insurance growth rates have remained in the single digits, and life insurance is the only insurance that can guarantees payments. Recently, health insurance has drawn more attention. In addition, Ms. Wu believes the insurance derivatives industry will offer many attractive career options in the future.

Trust

Yijun Tang (FMBA 16) is an Investment Director at Ping An Trust who has experienced the shift in the industry from exponential growth to orderly development. The trust industry is filled with many arbitrage opportunities. Its main business is channel business where the trust company invests on behalf of the client as a means of bypassing certain  legal issues. Trust companies are also involved in direct investments, especially in real estate and government infrastructure projects. In 2018, the size of the trust industry fell by 20% and entered a more stable development stage.

Funds

Yu Wang (FMBA 15) is a Senior Manager of Risk Management at Huatai Pinebridge. He introduced the structure of the domestic fund and the responsibilities of employees in front-office roles such as sales, research, investment; middle-office roles such as risk management, product design, trading, compliance; and back-office operations such as information technology and administration. Many foreign asset management companies have entered the market in Mainland China, making efforts to obtain a public fund license. As a result, the next decade is likely to be a time of rapid expansion for the asset management industry. The industry will need talent, especially people with a legal background or rich industry experience.

Financial Leasing

Weiqi Gong (FMBA 16) is an Investment Vice President at Far East Leasing. She shared her views on how financial leasing companies help clients alleviate cash flow pressure through direct leasing and back-leasing. For channel businesses, commercial due diligence can help reduce risks and bad debts. The penetration rate of the leasing business in developed countries reached 17%-20% while the current penetration rate in China is only around 10%. Although regulation is getting tighter, there is still plenty of room for growth. In the future, the leasing business in China will expand from B2B to B2C. The industry is expected to progress in an orderly manner, with improved service capabilities and increased professionalism.

Strategic Investment

Yifan Gui (FMBA 14), Managing Director of Oriental Pearl Investment, introduced the role of strategic investment. Strategic investment includes corporate investment, domestic funds investment, and US funds investment. US funds usually have an exit period of up to 8-10 years, and RMB funds usually have an exit time frame of 3-8 years. Strategic investment usually doesn't aim to exit in a short-term. Rather, it leverages its expertise to carry out in-depth business integration and resource consolidation to achieve a leading market position and positive investment returns. During an economic downturn, post-investment management is particularly important to strategic investment. Skills required include financial analysis skills, legal and compliance knowledge, and project management skills.

Financial Technology

Qi Zhou (FMBA 13) is a Founding Partner of QuantInfo Tech. He discussed his entrepreneurial experience. He discouraged MBA students from purely following trends, but instead advised them to discover their true passions and strengths. Startups usually focus on developing the ability to discover and solve problems in order to facilitate a career path to become future partners. On the other hand, large companies are good at cultivating professional managers. Financial technology aims to optimise efficiency and improve creativity, so innovation and open-minded thinking abilities are especially important.

Commercial Bank

Jun Li (FMBA 12), Manager of Credit Management Department at SPD Bank, introduced the commercial bank. From a macro perspective, in 2008, the domestic finance industry aimed to achieve financial disintermediation and efficient asset management at the national level. In 2014 and 2015, the Chinese finance industry focused on developing the bond market and P2P financing. Now, commercial banks are the pillars the economy again. From a micro perspective, banks are distinctive in terms of their operations. Generally speaking, large banks are more structured and organised, with more access to business resources and better risk management. They also offer more career options. Large banks have more extensive bureaucratic structures, so the workplace is also more competitive, promotions take a longer time, and the implementation of innovative projects may occur at a slower pace.

Finance-specific Head-hunter

Finally, Lilian Xiang is a partner at head-hunting firm ZDL Executive Search and specialising in head-hunting in the finance industry. She is also a family member of an FMBA alumnus. She introduced a number of recruitment trends for talent pools in the finance industry. The entire finance sector showed weak profitability in the past year. Thus, recruiters are expecting talent to add value immediately, drawing on previous relevant experience, resources, and revenue adding capabilities. For full-time MBA students, it is more efficient to find a job through an alumni network, friends, and acquaintances. Campus recruiting should be the last resort.

Looking Forward

The session allowed FMBA and MBA students to meet and successfully establish an interactive platform. The CEIBS MBA Investment and Finance Club will continue to make efforts to effectively integrate school resources (especially in cooperation with the FMBA Finance Club) and to organise more high-quality finance related events to help students achieve their objectives in the finance industry.