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LPPL2007
Barker
Joined: Mar 08, 2007
Posts: 170
Location: forsaken land of zhangjiang
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
July 12, 2007 - 01:43 PM |
 
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| Post subject: Goldman's Ong Misses China CEO Job on Language Hitch (Update |
July 12 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's
most profitable investment bank, couldn't name the co-head of
investment banking in Asia as chief executive officer of its
Beijing joint venture because his knowledge of Chinese was too
weak, three bankers at the firm said.
Richard Ong, an ethnic Chinese born in Malaysia, didn't
write Chinese well enough to take a mandatory test for senior
managers, said the bankers, declining to be identified as the
matter is private. New York-based Goldman instead promoted Zha
Xiangyang, deputy CEO of its China joint venture, Goldman Sachs
Gao Hua Securities Co., in May.
Government rules requiring language skills may hurt
investment banks' efforts to attract top employees to China, the
world's fastest-growing major economy. New York-based Citigroup
Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are seeking joint-
venture partners in the nation, where a record $16.3 billion was
raised in stock sales during the first half of 2007.
``When you start putting a language requirement on it, it
dramatically reduces the pool'' of talent, said George Fifield,
managing director of Korn/Ferry International Consulting
(Beijing) Ltd. ``It's going to diminish the quality of the team,
whether it's on the board or the senior management.''
China began requiring senior executives to take the test in
2004. Managers in place before then have until 2009 to pass the
exam before losing their titles.
Stricter Enforcement
The language requirement applies to CEOs, deputy CEOs and
the heads of supervisory boards at locally incorporated
securities firms, according to the industry regulator. The test
includes both written and verbal components.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has stepped up
enforcement since December, though it can still grant exemptions
for foreign executives. The financial watchdog said Nov. 30 it
would punish securities firms that appoint managers who haven't
passed the exam. The regulator wasn't more specific.
Goldman, the world's biggest securities firm by market value,
moved Ong, 42, to Beijing from Singapore last year to head its
China operations after former Asia co-head of investment banking
Bill Wicker moved back to New York and Goldman China CEO Joseph
Stevens quit in October to join Standard Chartered Plc, the
London-based bank that makes most of its money in Asia.
Ong, who headed the Singapore office for about four years,
declined to comment, as did Goldman spokesman Edward Naylor. The
CSRC didn't respond to faxed questions.
Zha, 40, is a co-founder of Chinese brokerage Gao Hua
Securities Co. Gao Hua owns 67 percent of Goldman Sachs Gao Hua
and Goldman controls the rest.
Goldman and UBS
Goldman is the No. 3 foreign underwriter of stock sales in
China and Hong Kong this year, after Morgan Stanley, the second-
biggest U.S. securities firm, and Zurich-based UBS AG, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Goldman and UBS, Europe's largest bank by assets, are the
only foreign investment banks licensed to underwrite domestic
share sales in China, where the economy expanded at 11.1 percent
in the first quarter from a year earlier. Executives at Citigroup,
the biggest U.S. bank, JPMorgan, the third-largest, and Morgan
Stanley have said the companies are seeking partners in China.
China's enforcement of language testing is part of a plan to
give locals increased access to top positions at securities firms.
The rule sets China apart from Japan, another Asian nation where
English proficiency is low.
Mark Branson, CEO of UBS's Japanese securities venture, and
Federico Sacasa, president of Aozora Bank Ltd., controlled by New
York-based buyout fund Cerberus Capital Management LP, are among
senior executives in the nation who don't read or write Japanese.
UBS has mainly hired locally. Chinese executives at its
venture include Chairman David Li.
``Goldman shouldn't have appointed someone who doesn't read
or write Chinese to head its China business in the first place,''
said Guo Ming, managing director of human resources consultant
EAL Consulting in China.
--With reporting by Josephine Lau in Beijing. Editor:
Lagerkranser (pbr/tbq)
Story illustration: {GS US <Equity> GP <GO>} to graph Goldman's
shares. {TOP FIN <GO>} for top financial news. To access the Web
site of China Securities Regulatory Commission, type
http://www.csrc.gov.cn/n575458/index.html. To view similar
securities test requirement in Hong Kong, type
http://www.sfc.hk/sfc/doc/EN/intermediaries/licensing/topic_03_
cepa_eng
To contact the reporters on this story:
Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at +852-2977-6629 or
kchan14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ben Richardson at +852-2977-6467 or
brichardson8@bloomberg.net |
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mrpango
Low Seater
Joined: Jan 26, 2007
Posts: 3274
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
July 12, 2007 - 01:51 PM |
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LPPL2007
Barker
Joined: Mar 08, 2007
Posts: 170
Location: forsaken land of zhangjiang
Status: Offline
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July 12, 2007 - 01:53 PM |
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how racist is that Guo Ming guy!! does it mean that all chinese officials that go out of china must be english literate? |
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Artefact
Veejay
Joined: Aug 19, 2003
Posts: 1806
Location: Where no one has gone before
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July 12, 2007 - 02:41 PM |
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There's bunch of securities firms CEOs here who doesn't speak or write chinese, of course it helps but a lot, long term strategy is a much more important criteria than language. I think. THis Guo Ming is a clown. |
_________________
To be authentic literally means to be your own author. |
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Artefact
Veejay
Joined: Aug 19, 2003
Posts: 1806
Location: Where no one has gone before
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July 12, 2007 - 02:41 PM |
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There's bunch of securities firms CEOs here who doesn't speak or write chinese, of course it helps but a lot, long term strategy is a much more important criteria than language. I think. THis Guo Ming is a clown. |
_________________
To be authentic literally means to be your own author. |
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ruanruizhi
Newbie
Joined: July 14, 2007
Posts: 1
Status: Offline
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July 14, 2007 - 06:59 PM |
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Most Chinese people going to work in the US would be required to have a satisfactory level of English. Not only that, it's perfectly reasonable to require the representative of securities firms be able to liaise with Chinese speaking regulators in this strongly regulated industry.
It's amazing how Westerners think nothing of their own restrictions on foreign labour while reacting irrationally to perfectly reasonable requirements in China. Should Chinese regulators learn to use English in their own country for the sake of a few expatriates? If expatriates come to China with this state of mind, they should not really be here. |
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Artefact
Veejay
Joined: Aug 19, 2003
Posts: 1806
Location: Where no one has gone before
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July 14, 2007 - 07:12 PM |
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International business exposure= use English, thats the Minimum. As the article mentioned above, if you put a language restriction, especially chinese which is hard to learn, you are going to limit your talent pool considerably. I personally will feel more confident with a CEO who is a real strategist even he is does not speak my language. Of course if you have both skills thats great but to my opinion rare. |
_________________
To be authentic literally means to be your own author. |
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CoffeeHawk_0
Board Buddha
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 14380
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July 14, 2007 - 07:15 PM |
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^on a 1 to 1 person level u r right, but for a global economy, for airports, for a lot of things it just makes sense to have a common language. If Italy was the dominant technical and finance powerhouse of the world, we'd all be learning Italian.
People from English speaking countries should just be careful not to sound arrogant because they were lucky to be born where they were in terms of language/business. China has the right to enforce any language it wants to, it's a government decision. |
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Artefact
Veejay
Joined: Aug 19, 2003
Posts: 1806
Location: Where no one has gone before
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July 14, 2007 - 07:31 PM |
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Good Point. English is not my native language and its true they have the right to do it, and i am not denying this. However i'll try to figure out what seriously will be the payoff of this measure. for both parties. i still believe executives talent pool is critical in China, and put a language restriction is not going to solve the issue in the long term. I recall a research paper from manpower called China executives talent, paradox? they said that China will need 75,000 global leaders in the next 10 years. Only 3,000 to 5,000 individuals meet this criteria right now. its just a thought about what is your business/strategy priority. |
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To be authentic literally means to be your own author. |
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Andreas
Board Royalty
Joined: Feb 27, 2004
Posts: 6332
Location: 31 N 121 E
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July 14, 2007 - 07:50 PM |
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| ruanruizhi wrote: |
Most Chinese people going to work in the US would be required to have a satisfactory level of English. Not only that, it's perfectly reasonable to require the representative of securities firms be able to liaise with Chinese speaking regulators in this strongly regulated industry.
It's amazing how Westerners think nothing of their own restrictions on foreign labour while reacting irrationally to perfectly reasonable requirements in China. Should Chinese regulators learn to use English in their own country for the sake of a few expatriates? If expatriates come to China with this state of mind, they should not really be here. |
The international language of business happens to be English, if we like it or not. There are many people here, like myself, for whom English is not the first language. If you want to participate in international business, there is no other choice than to learn English. It only shows that China is still far away from being a full member of the international community. It is even worse in the aviation industry, where 90% of Chinese pilots lack basic English skills, leading to sometimes very dangerous situations on international airports. |
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If it has tits, tires, or a transom, there's gonna be issues! |
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uppereastside
Seeker
Joined: July 12, 2007
Posts: 41
Status: Offline
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July 14, 2007 - 09:01 PM |
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the language of business is english. china, while growing, won't be having major offices and doing business in finance, commerce, or other service sector work in Manhattan or London anytime soon. i think at this point in china's transformation, getting good strategists is so much more important than being able to write good mandarin. whether china likes to hear it or not, most of the business strategist and managers were educated in business schools in the west for this generation. i think the passing on someone who is probably qualify on finance strategy because of language is silly, unless the driver for the decision is trust.
i came to china to in a consultancy capacity to work with multinational clients wanting to come into china. i'm partially chinese, i was born in the states, i think and eat like an american (as i am realizing) and i was educated in the states. i dont know mandarin at all, i know i'm not going to be able to write or carry a witty conversation in mandarin in the next 2 years.
i can tell you that the multinational clients i've met sees that china is grossly not prepared to work with american and european companies who mostly use english. i'm busy trying to train staff in english, professionalism and methodology..and guess what, we use english.
i think china still have a major distrust of free markets (obviously, right?) and the west. until they get over that, and form a true service economy, they might implode on their own expansion weight if a recession hits the west. |
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yu888
Board Deity
Joined: Jan 25, 2003
Posts: 17973
Location: ZhongShanParkArea SH
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July 14, 2007 - 11:15 PM |
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| LPPL2007 wrote: |
| how racist is that Guo Ming guy!! does it mean that all chinese officials that go out of china must be english literate? |
Careful throwing the "racist" word around unless you understand what it means. It seems while there may be race bias at play here, this guy is more ignorant about the importance of strategic skills versus the language skill in this particular industry and may noty be qualified to be quoted for this article at all...then again, that may be the intent of the journalist who used his quotes.
It IS ideal that managers in those positions be fluent in both English as well as the local language, and its up to each company to determine what makes sense for what they are doing. Often times a CEO in these situations are not the key strategy provider and rather, may be a figure head than NEEDs the language ability to do face time and get the jobs done. Doing business in China is obviously different than in the US or Europe. We don't know if indeed Goldman is savvy enough to realise this and is using this knowledge to their advantage. |
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Thoughts & updates about Shanghai On my Blog for more details:Random Thoughts about Living in Shanghai...and more |
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Andreas
Board Royalty
Joined: Feb 27, 2004
Posts: 6332
Location: 31 N 121 E
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July 14, 2007 - 11:48 PM |
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Actually doing business here is not that much different than form any other place in the world. There ARE two differences though, and that is the general lack of international exposure here (and hence ignorance of international business practices), and the rampant corruption. In my business, which is the marine business, I can see that changes are happening. Mainly because the majority of the customers demand those changes (90% of them are from abroad).
I understand also that in the securities industry here, which is maybe the most corrupt of all and closely tied in with the CCP, China will do everything to keep real competence out. |
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If it has tits, tires, or a transom, there's gonna be issues! |
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