Hong Kong's dominant new banker is an ex-Goldman Sachs associate with a US MBA
If you’re a Goldman Sachs banker in New York today who was working in the industry back in 1998, you might be familiar with Hong Kong’s biggest banker. Oddly, however, he may have worked for you, rather than you for him.
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Dr Qi Bin (PhD) was appointed deputy director of the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong in November 2024. Since then, his public comments have caused quite a stir, and have been perceived as a break from the norm for Beijing's usually minimal involvement in Hong Kong's financial markets.
Qi is widely touted as being a Goldman Sachs banker. However, his time at Goldman was minimal - he was briefly an associate in Alternative Investment Manager Selections, seemingly in New York before leaving for mainland China to work for the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Like many in Hong Kong finance, Qi demonstrates the benefits of getting an education in the US. After an undergraduate degree at Tsinghua University and a biophysics masters from the University of Rochester in New York, he went to Chicago Booth for an MBA. It wasn't easy, and Qi borrowed money “from everyone he knew” to pay his fees.
After graduating from the MBA, Qi received an offer to work at Paribas Capital Markets in London. It was from there that he went to Goldman Sachs.
Most of Qi's career, though, has been spent in the public sector in mainland China, at the China Securities Regulatory Commission. There, he also completed a PhD in econometrics at his former alma matter, Tsinghua, and was appointed from there appointed deputy director of the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong.
Signs of Qi's controversial approach first became apparent in January, when he called for a white paper that addressed the city’s “shortcomings in market regulation, transaction costs, and corporate governance”. That call has caused apprehension in Hong Kong - the city has traditionally governed its own financial markets, with mainland authorities traditionally allowing free reign. The involvement of an official from Beijing is a worrying sign for many in the city - and the fact that Qi's speech was given in Mandarin, the city's third language, didn't help either.
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