Bank CEO says better cultural understand can bring China, US together
- East West Bank chairman and chief executive Dominic Ng believes the US and China can build a stronger relationship through mutual understanding
- The Pasadena, California bank is focused on companies operating between the US and China
China and the US may be able to move past the tensions that have marked their relationship in recent years if citizens of the world’s two largest economies better understand each other’s culture, according to East West Bank chairman and chief executive Dominic Ng.
Cultural understanding is one reason the Hong Kong native added film financing to the Pasadena, Calif., bank’s business eight years ago.
The bank, which was founded in 1973 and initially focused on providing banking services to the Chinese-American community, has since helped finance last summer’s The Meg and 2016’s The Great Wall, as well as financing deals between STX Entertainment and Huayi Brothers Media Corporation and Lions Gate Entertainment’s joint investment with Hunan Television.
“As a banker, I like supporting some of these soft industries,” Ng said. “The best things to help US-China build a stronger relationship is to have the people of both countries appreciate each other’s cultures.”
East West Bank has more than 130 locations in the United States and China, including branches in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shantou and Shenzhen, and representative offices in Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Taipei and Xiamen. It has about 3,200 full-time employees.
The bank’s profit rose 39 per cent to US$703.7 million last year, compared with profit of US$505.6 million in 2017.