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Name: Kelvin Au Wai-kuen Age: 36 Occupation: Commercial banking division director at HSBC

Young Post: What are your duties?

Au: Banks have different divisions to serve different clients. For example, the personal banking division deals with individual clients while the investment banking division does business with  big corporations.

Being in the commercial banking division, I usually face clients from small and medium enterprises, as well as  schools, churches and charities.

For convenience, our division has various teams to monitor the business in different regions. I am responsible for Hong Kong Island.

I help formulate and implement business strategies and sell our financial products. I also assess the risks of giving loans to clients.

As a director, I am also responsible for the daily staff management in my division which comprises more than 110 people. I have to make sure our efficiency is high and our quality of service is guaranteed.

YP: Do you have a lot of social outings?

Au: I often have lunch or dinner with my clients and sometimes visit their factories to observe their financial background and development potential. But I don't really regard these as business gatherings. These are just means to build up a relationship with the clients and understand their needs.

YP: Bankers usually need to meet business targets, such as a certain amount of profit a year. Does it put a lot of pressure on you?

Au: There is pressure. Our division has a sales growth target of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

It is set with the senior management at the beginning of every year based on the general economic environment and our bank's direction. We may have modifications at mid-year as the market changes.

The targets are usually reasonable. It is not so low that you can sit and wait to pass the target, but it is also not so high that it stresses you out.

Once, I did not meet the target but my boss was very understanding and discussed the reasons with me. Then we set a new target together.

YP: Do you earn a lot of money working for a bank?

Au:  It is not a place to make quick money, but it is a good place to develop a career. You can work in the same bank for 20 to 30 years until you retire.

I joined the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation after I graduated from university. I have been working here for over 10 years.

YP: You are responsible for recruiting new staff. What qualities do you look for?

Au: The applicants should be outgoing and have good analytical skills because they have to meet a lot of clients and make tough decisions. They should be aware of current affairs, too, because the market is always affected by various factors although sometimes they may look unrelated.



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