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Henry Yu

Between his day job and his personal passion for promoting China in Atlanta, Henry Yu had plenty to keep him busy during his time in Georgia.

As a managing director for global trade solutions for Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc., Mr. Yu shouldered the task of maintaining some of his company’s key relationships with foreign banks. 

As a two-time president of the National Association of Chinese-Americans, Atlanta Chapter, he frequently hosted incoming Chinese delegations and helped organize a variety of events.

But after moving in January to Shanghai—China’s financial hub—to leverage his 26 years of banking experience, he quickly realized that the city’s fast-moving capital environment would have him working even harder.

Mr. Yu now performs a similar job for Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd., a subsidiary of London-based banking group Standard Chartered PLC.  The China branch is headquartered in Shanghai and is one of a select number foreign banks with the license necessary to provide local services in Chinese currency, the yuan.  

“It’s hard work, but I like the challenge,” he told GlobalAtlanta at a restaurant in Shanghai’s Super Brand Mall, an eight-story shopping complex across a busy intersection from the iconic Oriental Pearl TV Tower. 

The Pudong New Area’s towers come alive with bright lights at night.  Photo by Trevor Williams

Despite the high-rises, not everything is glitz and glamour in Shanghai.  Some areas remained unpolished by the city’s rapid modernization. Photo by Trevor Williams.

The setting in the Lujiazui financial district of Shanghai’s Pudong New Area was appropriate as Mr. Yu talked about the rise of China’s fledgling banking industry and the difficulties it faces as a result of rapid development.

Almost all the buildings in Pudong, the area on east side of the Huangpu River that cuts through the city, have been constructed in the last 18 years as part of a massive initiative that turned soggy farmland into a modern testament to China’s economic transformation.

One of them, started in 2006 and scheduled for completion this year, is Standard Chartered's new China headquarters, a $40 million high-rise in the heart of the Lujiazui district.

Mr. Yu, a Hong Kong native, has worked in China and with Chinese businesses in the U.S. for many years, but moving to Shanghai showed him that the economy he’d promoted on the outside is even more exciting while wrapped up in its current.

“It’s totally different living and working here.  China is posting double-digit or close to double-digit (gross domestic product) growth every year,” he said.

That growth brings highly nuanced problems in the banking sector that require years of expertise, which makes China an interesting place for Mr. Yu to use his skills. 

Inflation has become a concern in China, especially as the U.S. dollar falls in value, he said.  And although the Chinese economy has been largely insulated from the current U.S. housing crisis, the average citizen has a hard time buying a home in Shanghai. 

The U.S. has pressured China to further open its currency to market influences, but even with government controls, the yuan has climbed about 12 percent in value against the dollar over the past three years. 

From Mr. Yu’s perspective, this shows a shift from traditional trading blocs in the West.  Partly because of growth in Asia, particularly in China, Africa, Asia and the Middle East represent the financial markets of the future, he said.  

Standard Chartered has focused its growth strategy primarily on those regions.

Even though he’s busy, Mr. Yu is staying connected to Atlanta, a task made easier by a nonstop Delta Air Lines Inc. flight from Atlanta to Shanghai he helped to establish through his work with National Association of Chinese-Americans. 

Mr. Yu attended a dinner party Delta threw at the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai March 31 to celebrate the inauguration of the flight, and he traveled with a delegation from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce to the city of Wuhan to help the Atlanta group court business there.

His wife is still living in the Georgia capital until his youngest daughter graduates from high school. While in Atlanta for that ceremony, he plans to vote in NACA’s elections, where members will vote in the organization’s next president.

Andy Wong, a CPA and corporate controller for Floor & Décor Outlets of America, is currently serving as president.