【正文】 h excess liquidity. To resolve the currency problem, you have to tighten liquidity by raising rates. But China is worried that if it raises rates, it will have a negative impact on the economic recovery and the government is trying to strike a balance between these two forces by making the best optimal choices. But I anticipate the rates will be slightly increased. This brings you to the topic of the appreciation of the renminbi, which is a major issue at this stage of the opening up and reform process in China. The choice we are now facing is whether to appreciate [the value of the renminbi against the dollar。t know] how broke into the industry? You have to know all of this, and you have to build this day in and day out.. All we can do is rely on daily life to build that, especially now with the Inter, which is an incredible opportunity. If I’m not away on business, I go home at 11:30 pm every day my house is very close to the office and I read. Then I get on for an hour and check out both the mainstream news and the gossip. If workers understand that you share a mon language with them, they feel you are close to them. You start to learn the Inter lingo [from bloggers and online events such as] Sister Furong and Yan Zhao Men. Also, when we travel on business and have meetings, there are a lot of opportunities to study. I am an adjunct professor at more than 20 universities in China and have lectured at Harvard, Cambridge and Columbia, which offered me opportunities to learn, prepare and interact with students there. Ma: China’s banking sector is flying high today and the contagion from the global financial crisis had a very limited effect on China. But you shouldn39。s most charismatic business leaders since joining the thenfledgling Shenzhenbased bank in 1999, also discusses his leadership philosophy and what it takes to manage a pany such as CMB now one of the biggest players in its sector. Ma Weihua: Last year’s new loans were made under special circumstances. The country needed to escape the shadow of the financial crisis, so both fiscal and moary measures were necessary to move China out of the crisis and restore confidence. Given the speed at which the loans are made, China’s ability to collect information on them, estimate project risk and implement guarantees is not on the same level as that of America. Concerns about these loans are wellfounded, and people are being more aware of the risks involved. As for the RMB 10 trillion of loans, my view is that the loans related to government platforms, real estate and loans to redundant infrastructure and overcapacity have more risk. However, a largescale rise in new nonperforming loans this year is unlikely. First of all, most of the loans aren’t due for another two to three years. Second, China’s economy has incredible potential. Over the next two to three decades, maintaining GDP growth of 8% should not be a problem. China’s industrialization and urbanization continue to make it one of the top destinations for foreign investment. On the other hand, the growing domestic economy and the change of people’s attitudes toward credit and consumption should also drive growth. Together, these factors should mitigate the emergence of nonperforming loans [on a large scale]. So while I expect some losses, I don’t think we are facing systemic risk. Ma: I wanted to write the book because Wall Street has faced some real challenges over the past five years. I’ve had the opportunity to meet many of the regulators and people on Wall Street and made quite a few friends, including [. Treasury Secretary] Tim Geithner. I wrote the book because I personally experienced the crisis while at our New York branch. The opening day of the branch was on the eve of the crisis. When I attended the opening, it was [the beginning] of 10 of the toughest days of the crisis. When I spoke with my friends on Wall Street, we discussed what was happening. During such turbulent times, everyone has different judgments, analysis and predictions. Six months later, looking back on everyone’s reactions was extremely interesting. Furthermore, the crisis was a real turning point for the future of many people, panies and even countries. It made regulatory reform a reality, and it redefined the future for many things. It also gave China a real wakeup call. If it hadn’t been for the crisis, China may still not have fully recognized the need to shift from an exportbased economy to one driven by domestic consumption. Given the wideranging significance of the crisis, I thought it really merited a book. Ma: The process of understanding the crisis helped us refine our plans for overseas expansion more carefully. It’s been an excellent learning experience and has made us more mature in terms of decisionmaking. Ma: The major challenge right now for us is to improve our management capabilities. Our recent strategic been about improving our capabilities in market access, globalizing our business and information management. Although we have won a lot of recognition in the sector, there are still many weaknesses in our management mindset. When I go down to the “shop floor,” everyone is bursting with enthusiasm, and when the topic of growth is discussed, everyone is ready for us to keep doubling our size. No one understands that that capital is absolutely essential to growth, but acquiring capital isn’t so easy. Ma: They like me probably because, despite having worked in many official positions prior to CMB, I don’t consider myself to be an appointed official anymore or that I am entitled to my position. When I arrived at CMB, I thought of myself as a professional manager, and as such, I knew that my responsibility was to use my authority to manage and promote [CMB] and grow the pany properly. That means doing what a bank manager should do.