Mr. Wilfred Yiu, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Beijing Gao Hua Securities, came to CityU campus on 14th April, 2016 and spent a meaningful night with CityU MBA students on the topic of “American firm doing business in China”. Mr. Yiu has been working in American banking business for more than two decades. As one of the key representatives in a world-class American investment bank, he shared his experience and views on how American business can success in Chinese environment.
Mr. Yiu thought that people from American company are usually more upfront in expressing one’s opinions and aggressive in achieving goals, and this is a big contrast to Chinese culture that Chinese are generally more humble and not willing to show their true thoughts easily. He also noted that the priority in business-decisions making, Americans tended to put legal concerns (法 Fă) the first place, then logical reasoning (理 Lĭ ) and relationships (情 Qíng) comes last; while a reverse order was more common to be seen in Chinese world compared with American. When it comes to business communication, he suggested students should understand the differences between two cultures, and tailor the content of the messages and how the message to be presented regarding to the concerns of different audiences, then the missions will be more likely to be successful.
Mr. Yiu also shared his experience in 2008 Global Financial Crisis, one of the biggest financial crisis in history and some of his personal reflections. He believed that optimism can help to bring you through all crisis and he motivated students do no give up too early when facing challenges, once you break through the obstacle, you will reach another higher level of skills in all aspects.
More about Wilfred
Mr. Wilfred Yiu, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Beijing Gao Hua Securities, is also the Chairman of Qian Kun Futures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gao Hua. Mr. Yiu serves as a member of the China Operating Committee. Previously, he was the Head of Credit Structured Products for Asia. Mr. Yiu joined Goldman Sachs in 2000 and was the Managing Director in 2007. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Yiu worked for five years at Credit Suisse in New York in Interest Rate Arbitrage.
Mr. Yiu earned a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University and an MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Dalian Commodity Exchange in China and a CFA charterholder.
