BOC, Macau is banking on a bigger future with UMacau graduates

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Speaking as the deputy general manager of the Bank of China (BOC), Macau, Sio-kai Ip is keen to talk about the future of Macau, the impact that good educational institutions can have and his experience in working with graduates of the University of Macau (UMacau).

As a small city, Macau has its challenges, particularly because, currently, much of the economy is based around the gaming and entertainment industry and requires diversification. The city is a special administrative region of China and has various organisations and trade partnerships that build on the city’s history as a former Portuguese enclave and help it to serve as a vital link in relations between Portuguese-speaking countries and Mainland China.

“Good IT graduates are important for us but so are Portuguese speakers. We want to connect China enterprises with Brazil, Portugal and so on,” Ip explains.

BOC is the largest mainstream bank in Macau, receiving a third of the market share, and it is finding that cross-border transactions are more and more common.

Also on the increase are people who invest in Macau from elsewhere or invest internationally via Macau, which is a free port and tax haven. Taking Luxembourg as a model, BOC wants to expand, looking for more people from international backgrounds and a mixture of work disciplines to help it reach the goal of growing the finance industry in Macau.