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This article was first published in the March 2016 China edition of Accounting and Business magazine.

When Jackie Chiu was hard at work in a university biochemical laboratory in the early 2000s, little did he think that he would go on to provide holistic financial solutions to corporate clients all over mainland China. As chief relationship manager at the Bank of Communications’ Hong Kong branch, Chiu sees immense potential for business opportunities in the country’s less developed cities.

Chiu’s work focuses on commercial banking business, in particular for corporations in mainland China. He oversees a team catering to the offshore financial needs of these corporations, including loans, deposits, structured trade finance, initial public offerings and bond issuing.

Chiu entered the banking sector in 2005, not long after completing an MPhil in biochemistry at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His first position was with Bank of China (Hong Kong), which he joined shortly after embarking on his ACCA Qualification.

The management skills taught in the ACCA Qualification syllabus have helped Chiu build a solid foundation for his current responsibilities. For instance, he applies the management accounting techniques to do performance updates for submission to senior management. ‘Apart from the analysis of numbers and ratios, I integrate the overall business development into the reports. I present a holistic picture, business analysis and development strategies in these reports,’ he says.

Logical thinker

Chiu believes that his scientific background has helped him navigate the complex business landscape. ‘For me, science is like training,’ he says. ‘It has helped me retain knowledge in a systematic manner. I have also learned to write reports and present data and analysis systematically. Science has a heavy emphasis on logical thinking and causal relationship. This is applied in the business environment as I always help my clients analyse different issues logically.’

Because Chiu started working in the banking sector without any prior experience, the initial period was, he says, challenging. ‘I did not know about many things. I was humble and asked a lot of questions,’ he admits, adding that ‘it is important to understand the corporate culture and adapt to it’.

Commercial banking, especially in frontline relationship management roles, is an interesting career through which an executive can learn and apply a lot of commercial knowledge; it goes much further than other sales positions.

‘The “product” of commercial banking is money - the loan,’ Chiu explains. ‘The relationship managers need to ask the clients to draw the loan and repay it after a certain period of time agreed on by both parties. Therefore, it is crucial to assess whether the client is able to complete the whole selling process - from drawing the loan to repaying it - in commercial banking.

‘In some circumstances, clients want to get loans to finance their companies’ operations, but a bank may not want to extend them,’ Chiu continues. ‘This is different from other sales.

‘Relationship managers in commercial banking need to assess the repayment ability of corporate clients by looking at the historical record, future plans, management ability of the company and feasibility of projects, in the case of project loans.

‘The wide-ranging knowledge and skills learned from the ACCA examinations, including financial reporting, financial analysis, management reporting, cashflow projection analysis, ratio analysis, business strategies, auditing, business law, taxation, all help the managers assess how well a company is performing or how well a project has been doing. I apply this professional knowledge to appraise individual clients and help the credit department and senior management to make decisions on whether we will do business with them.’

In terms of banking services, Chiu says that in the top-tier markets on the mainland, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, competition has been vigorous. ‘I also explore clients in third and fourth-tier cities in such provinces as Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi. Because these regions are not fully developed yet, they are full of business opportunities, which come hand in hand with many challenges.’

Wider scope

While still working on his MPhil, Chiu decided not to pursue a career in science. ‘I made the decision carefully by taking into account the economic development in Hong Kong at that time,’ he recalls. ‘I saw that the career opportunities in the biochemistry field were limited at that time; I could either become a teacher or pursue further advanced study to enter academia.

‘By comparison, accounting had a much wider scope. Qualified accountants can get into almost any sector, even government departments. Every business needs accountants and the demand is always sustainable.’

Chiu considered auditing before eventually settling on banking. ‘I am outgoing and enjoy customer relations and marketing,’ he says. ‘Perhaps it was because I had to spend a lot of time alone in the labs during my postgraduate study and became quite bored. I realised I preferred to work with people.’

With little business background, in the second year of his master’s degree, Chiu decided to study for the ACCA Qualification, which took around three years. He achieved Top Affiliate in the December 2008 session as one of the 20 candidates attaining the highest aggregate marks in Hong Kong.

Chiu completed all the papers, initially through self study, then enrolling in tutoring classes for the more advanced exams. ‘The advantage of the ACCA exams is that the schedule is highly flexible. Because I was in full-time study during the day, I burned the midnight oil,’ he recalls. ‘The key is time management. You have to be committed and make time to study for the exams.

The Qualification also helps to mark out graduates in the marketplace, Chiu says. ‘Because every graduate has a degree, professional qualification is the differentiation,’ he says. ‘Prospective employers value those graduates with professional qualifications because they are considered to be driven.’

Chiu says that he enjoyed his ACCA studies enormously. ‘While science is mainly about theories, there are always a lot of exciting new developments in the business world. We always need to pay attention to business news to stay on top of global business developments,’ he says.

Keeping up to date

‘The advantage of ACCA is that it organises CPD seminars and talks to keep its members informed of the latest developments in the industry and commercial arena, such as new accounting regulations. There are also the CFOs experience-sharing sessions.’

Chiu believes that the benefits from ACCA membership go beyond updated professional knowledge. ‘ACCA regularly organises events that are great for networking,’ he says. ‘I have made friends with other professionals like CFOs and owners of enterprises. We often see the opportunities for future collaboration; some have become my clients.’

The market in China holds great potential for young professionals in Hong Kong, Chiu believes. On top of their professional qualification, young professionals enthusiastic about working in mainland China need to have good proficiency in Putonghua (Mandarin). ‘Most frontline colleagues recruited by our bank over the past two years are able to communicate in Putonghua,’ he says. ‘They also need to have a good understanding of themselves. Are they independent? Can they deal with issues on their own under stress?’

In order to understand the corporate culture in mainland Chinese corporations, young professionals should try to find out as much as they can, says Chiu – for example, by talking to friends already working in such organisations, as well as reading up on Chinese news.

Wilson Lau, journalist