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through the stories of these "working queens", we can vaguely see the career advancement path of a woman in the financial circle: they graduated from prestigious universities, but started from the most basic jobs. they do not rely on their looks but on their strength. they use their efforts to break through constraints and their strength to break prejudices. women can also reach the top of the financial circle!

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is the “working queen” rising strongly in the financial circle?

recently, dbs bank announced a major personnel change, appointing susan chan as deputy ceo and retaining her current position. after the current ceo, david gober, retires in march 2025, susan chan will take over as ceo.

you know, this bank with the largest assets in southeast asia has been troubled by the issue of succession for decades. but surprisingly, the final candidate is a female banker, and this news quickly attracted attention:

"she took over the highest-paying job in singapore!"

“she is expected to become the highest paid working woman in singapore!”

in fact, this is not an isolated case. in the financial circle dominated by male executives, more and more women are breaking through and reaching the top of the workplace. for example, huang bijuan, who became the ceo of ocbc bank in 2021, is the first female ceo in the banking industry in singapore; and blackrock, the world's largest asset management institution, officially announced two female leaders at one time...

through the stories of these "working queens", we can vaguely see the career advancement path of a woman in the financial circle:

they graduated from prestigious universities, but started from the most basic jobs. they do not rely on their looks but on their strength. they use their efforts to break through constraints and their strength to break prejudices. women can also reach the top of the financial circle!

1.

/ i was still answering calls from clients while giving birth.

she went from an intern to a "working queen" /

the news that chen shushan would take over the bank has stirred up a lot of excitement in the global financial world. why? because dbs bank’s current ceo, david goldberg, has been so successful in his 14 years at the helm that he has been dubbed the “toughest working emperor”.

take the annual salary, which is the most concerned issue among netizens. gao bode has been crowned singapore's "working emperor" many times. as early as 2017, his annual salary exceeded 10 million singapore dollars. even with his "salary cut" last year, he still earned 15.38 million singapore dollars, which is equivalent to more than 60 million yuan in rmb.

it is precisely because he is so outstanding that finding the next "successor" is even more stressful. in recent years, the entire asian and even global financial circles have been paying attention to:

who will be his successor? who will be the next "working emperor" with an annual salary of tens of millions?

chen shushan's official appointment finally put an end to this issue. considering that singapore's united overseas bank ceo huang yizhong is the third-generation successor of the family, some netizens may be curious whether this is another story of a rich second-generation taking over the family business?

in fact, chen shushan is not an airborne soldier or a rich second-generation. she was born in a middle-class family and was a top student in her student days. she graduated from oxford university with a major in politics, philosophy and economics, and is proficient in english, mandarin and japanese.

after graduation, chen shushan started to venture into the financial circle, and worked in top financial institutions such as baring securities, morgan stanley, and citibank. it was not until the first year after godber took office that he personally called to "poach" her, and she decided to resign from morgan stanley and join dbs bank. coincidentally, dbs bank was also the bank where chen shushan had her first internship.

in the first three years after joining, chen shushan focused her energy on wealth management business. since she joined, wealth assets have grown by 20% each year, reaching us$156 billion at the end of 2017, and dbs bank has also become one of the top wealth management companies in asia.

she also overhauled the consumer banking/wealth management and institutional banking businesses, which account for 90% of dbs's total revenue, and implemented a digital strategy across the businesses she managed to transform the bank.

her many years of working in the financial industry have also earned her a lot of recognition from the industry:

in october 2014, he became the first singaporean to be named the best private banking leader in the world by the banker;

in 2018, she was nominated as one of the “25 emerging asian female business leaders” by forbes magazine and was named “retail banker of the year” by digital banker.

as the first female head of dbs bank, susan chan's promotion was not based on seniority, but was the result of a 10-year selection process. according to official sources, in addition to a group of internal candidates, there were also potential external candidates, and she was the only female banker among the candidates. but the board of directors finally decided:

"chen shushan is the strongest among them."

this appointment not only affects dbs bank, but also has a positive effect on the gender diversity of leadership in other financial companies. many media outlets mentioned in their reports:

"shan's promotion could inspire other financial institutions in asia and around the world to follow suit."

in addition to being a big shot in the workplace, chen shushan also has a happy family. her husband is a well-known social entrepreneur and business consultant, and she has a beautiful mixed-race daughter and a son.

but she has never limited herself to being "so-and-so's mother" or "so-and-so's wife". in addition to being a senior executive of dbs bank, she has many other identities in the financial circle:

an advisory board member of the dyson family office, the home appliance maker;

member of the board of directors of a singapore-listed real estate investment trust company;

……

what's even more rare is that as a female executive, chen shushan can better understand the difficulties faced by women in the financial workplace. she once revealed that when she was at morgan stanley, she traded japanese yen for wealth management clients and brought her laptop and mobile phone directly into the hospital delivery room. even when the doctor asked her to inhale anesthetic gas, she was still trading foreign exchange for clients on the delivery bed.

"i was breathing heavily, talking on the phone to clients, and giving birth at the same time. i couldn't tell if it was the labor pains or the exchange rate fluctuations that made me gasp for air."

in 2001, chen shushan founded the singapore women in finance association to encourage women to enter the financial industry and help women in the financial industry to develop better. she once said:

"in a culture that is not used to dealing with women, you have to prove that you are as good as or better than men to earn their trust."

2.

/ last year's annual salary exceeded 65 million yuan,

former "hsbc no. 1" becomes head of a multi-billion-dollar bank /

some netizens said that chen shushan's life is a super cool heroine life that even the rustic short dramas dare not film:

female ceo, high salary, luxurious house, happy marriage and lovely children...

but she is actually only the second female leader of a large bank in singapore's history. the current ceo of ocbc bank, singapore's oldest local bank, is the first female ceo in singapore's banking industry.

huang bijuan is also a top student. according to public information, she graduated from the university of hong kong with a bachelor's degree in social sciences. she worked as a reserve cadre at ocbc in 1984 and was the bank's first china business manager. in 1992, she joined hsbc.

although many people in the financial circle frequently change jobs, huang bijuan seems to be particularly "loyal". she has worked at hsbc for 17 years and held several important positions in the investment banking and corporate banking departments.

not only that, the mainland financial circle is also particularly familiar with huang bijuan, because she was the president of hsbc greater china, responsible for business in mainland china, hong kong, macao and taiwan, and was known as the "no. 1 lady of hsbc."

some media have reported that the position of ceo of greater china was originally created for wong bik-kuen, who was once seen by the outside world as the successor to hsbc holdings asia pacific ceo peter wong. later, hsbc suddenly encountered personnel changes and wong bik-kuen chose to resign. since then, the group has not set up the position of ceo of greater china.

in 2020, wong bik koon returned to ocbc bank; in 2021, she was appointed ceo of ocbc bank and served as group president of ocbc bank, becoming the first female president of the group and the first female leader of a local bank.

huang bijuan's succession actually has a profound meaning. bank analysts at alliancebernstein securities once said that this shows that ocbc bank continues to pay attention to the chinese market:

"since taking over as hsbc's greater china president, betty wong has focused on growth in the pearl river delta, which is consistent with ocbc's strategy of acquiring hong kong wing hang bank to boost greater china."

this is indeed the case. the chairman of ocbc bank said this, expressing his respect for her:

“her experience and expertise extend beyond corporate banking to greater china and north asia. prior to joining ocbc, she also headed the mass banking business for a major bank and served as the president of greater china, including hong kong.”

in 2022, as a "female general" in the financial circle, huang bijuan was selected into the forbes china top 100 global chinese elite list, along with a number of well-known entrepreneurs.

after taking over, huang bijuan is still leading ocbc bank to expand its business in greater china. she has publicly expressed her belief in the huge potential of the chinese market many times. in an exclusive interview with the media last year, she also mentioned:

"as one of the core markets of ocbc group, greater china occupies an important position in the development strategy of the entire group. in recent years, despite the challenging market environment, our performance in mainland china has achieved breakthrough growth. since 2019, profits in mainland china have more than doubled, and the contribution to the group's performance has increased significantly."

some time ago, a media compiled a list of the 10 highest-paid ceos in singapore. huang bijuan ranked third with an annual salary of 12.1 million singapore dollars. converted at the current exchange rate, her annual salary exceeds 65 million yuan.

but you have to know that the first two are not actually "working people". the first is huang yizon, the third-generation successor of united overseas bank, and the second is kuok khoon hong, who founded wilmar international. only she is the true "working queen".

3.

/ are a group of female leaders sweeping the financial world? /

with the promotion of tan su shan and huang bijuan, it is clear that the top management of two of singapore's three major banks - dbs bank, ocbc bank and united overseas bank - have become women.

but this is not an isolated case in the banking circle. in fact, the long-standing male-dominated situation in the financial circle is being broken, and more and more female executives and female bosses are sweeping the financial circle!

at the beginning of this year, blackrock, the world's largest asset management institution, welcomed two female leaders at once, officially appointing chen huilan as head of the asia-pacific region and fan hua as head of the china region.

chen huilan is also a top student. she graduated with a degree in economics from boston university in the united states. she has worked at barclays and deutsche bank. she joined blackrock in 2013 and worked her way up from head of capital markets for asia pacific at ishares to head of eft & index investment. before her new appointment, she was vice president of asia pacific and president of greater china.

chen huilan has over 30 years of experience in the financial services and asset management industries. she has grown from a trader to a powerful leader in the financial markets. she has held leadership positions in capital markets, trading, investment and client business. she has also led the development of blackrock's onshore business in china.

as a role model for female leaders, chen huilan also received the lifetime achievement award from the 2023 asian women in finance awards.

fan hua's experience is equally exciting. he was a top student during his student days. he majored in mathematics at peking university for his undergraduate degree, and later obtained a doctorate in finance and philosophy from columbia university. the background of two prestigious universities directly paved the way for his successful career.

after graduation, fan hua served as head of goldman sachs' global risk model department, managing director of china investment corporation's asset allocation department, and general manager of blackstone jianxin wealth management co., ltd.

similarly, fan hua is also a role model for female leaders in the financial industry. in 2014 and 2015, she won the honorary awards of "25 most influential women in asset management industry" and "100 women in hedge funds".

as mentioned in a research report by blackrock, women and diversity have a crucial impact on corporate performance.

"msci, an international index compiler, has also found in its historical data from past studies that compared with companies without female directors, companies with female directors on the board, especially companies with three or more female directors, have better financial returns, valuations and esg ratings in the long run."

in april this year, the famous hedge fund company, bridgewater associates, announced that sun yue officially served as the head of total portfolio strategy, responsible for managing bridgewater's newly established "total portfolio strategies" department.

to the outside world, sun yue is very low-key. public information shows that she studied at the prestigious university of chicago, and after graduation she worked at mckinsey and the world bank, and later received an mba from harvard business school.

in 2018, sun yue joined bridgewater for the second time. in the same year, bridgewater (china) investment management co., ltd. completed the registration, with its office located in shanghai, and launched its first private equity product in october of that year. sun yue's work focus also returned to china, and he became the general manager of bridgewater china.

sun yue's work ability is very outstanding. under her leadership, bridgewater china has developed rapidly, with assets exceeding 10 billion yuan in 2021, becoming one of the largest foreign hedge funds in china. in january this year, some media reported that bridgewater china's assets will further increase to 40 billion yuan, ahead of many competitors.

in the past two years, there have been many similar examples, such as the emergence of a number of "investment bank mulans": jpmorgan chase appointed chen yanni as co-ceo of china. in addition, three of the five ceo successors named by the jpmorgan board of directors are women; and morgan stanley hired former credit suisse banker huang min to lead its chinese investment management department...

it can be seen that in the financial circle, a place of fame and fortune, more and more outstanding female executives are being seen. for them, identities such as mother and wife are no longer the only labels, but just one of the roles in life.

the meticulousness, tenacity and intelligence of female executives have enabled them to break through the "ceiling" in the workplace with their work strength. their promotion is of great significance to the issue of gender equality in the financial workplace:

break through the shackles of female stereotypes and carve out a vast world of your own!