Lunar: Malaysia’s May Tan looks back on trailblazing banking career in Hong Kong
- Lunar is a weekly curated newsletter that highlights stories relating to women and gender equality in the Asia-Pacific
- In this edition, veteran Hong Kong-based banker May Tan tells us about breaking the glass ceiling, male allies and helping to bridge the gender gap in boardrooms
When May Tan was tapped by her then-employer, British investment bank Cazenove, to relocate from England to work in Hong Kong in 1984, she was not thrilled.
The firm had its eye on gaining a foothold in Asia and offered Tan, a Malaysia-born chartered accountant, a secondment in the city to do equity research.
Hong Kong’s economy then was in turmoil, ahead of the 1997 handover from Britain to Beijing. Tan, who had never been to the city, described the situation as “chaotic”.
“Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher were in discussions on the future of the handover; talks were breaking down. Amid the negotiations, the Hong Kong currency fell like a tonne of bricks,” she said. “It wasn’t a very impressive place when I arrived.”
But the handover came and went, and Hong Kong flourished as a financial hub.
“I rose up the ranks at Cazenove, built up the Asia business. I stayed on for 25 years. I built one of the largest independent investment banking powerhouses,” said Tan.
