【正文】 your currency. In other words, you are surrendering your sovereignty in terms of your currency, which means that when you are in hard times, you cannot devalue in order to bee more petitive. But at the same time, the architects of this moary union 10 years ago didn39。s financial system. Such an oute would have set off a new round of recession in Europe and might have dragged the world financial system back to the depths reached 12 to 18 months ago or worse. Some critics still view the overall stabilization package, which left many details vague, as a shortterm fix that ultimately will fail to address deep public and private debt levels, pressing fiscal deficits and persistent internal and external trade imbalances. One explanation for why Europe39。s just the nature of it. I think it is a good time to start thinking about the right institutions and mechanisms at those levels, which can respond to these types of crises in an effective fashion. And that39。s why at the beginning I was saying you also have to take into consideration the political cost or the political benefits or both of doing things in a particular way. Greece, first of all, what it needs is to tell the truth. It hasn39。t really make sense and without [having] a mon social system doesn39。s [earnings] results declared very recently, or IBM39。s president, his thoughts on what lies ahead for his countr y39。m expecting it to fluctuate within a small band. But behind house prices is a currency phenomenon with 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。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 probabl