BEA’s Ivy Chan on managing banking risks and trade war shifts

She never saw her banking job as one with a bias for either men or women.

The Bank of East Asia’s (BEA) Ivy Chan has her work in risk management cut out for her this year: most recently, there's US President Donald Trump doubling down on tariffs in an escalating global trade war. Chan's job is to assess which clients will be most affected — and who might benefit.

“We need to immediately analyze our own portfolio and apply risk mitigation to prevent the bank from being hurt as a result of the impact on our customers,” the Hong Kong lender’s group chief risk officer told Asian Banking & Finance.

Leading a team of 180 people who manage clients in the city and Mainland China, Chan said that one of her biggest concerns right now is how the tariff war will impact exporters to the US.

Trump has imposed blanket tariffs of about 20% on China on top of existing 10% duties that took effect during his first term, and China has retaliated by imposing as much as 15% duties on US farm goods.

“We have to identify those customers that may be impacted, and those who are less so, such as those who already have manufacturing operations in Southeast Asia in addition to China,” Chan said by telephone.

Apart from credit and operational risks, the banker handles all nonfinancial risks as well — errors and compliance breaches — for Hong Kong’s biggest independent lender, and one of its few remaining family-run banks.

Chan, who has been in risk management for two decades, sees her role as the “glue” because she has to discuss these risks not just with clients but also with BEA’s board and regulators.

She never saw it as a job with a bias for either men or women. She did think it was more interesting than a career in accounting and taxation after a campus recruitment event 32 years ago.

“I never felt that there was any bias in the banking industry nor throughout the years in that bank,” she said.

She said her male bosses at the time had tried to uplift women bankers, adding that there were no barriers for them to move up in their careers.

“Reflecting back, I think it's really about the person, whether we want to take ownership of our own career, and whether we've got encouragement from our seniors, be it women or men,” she said.

Chan said artificial intelligence (AI) would play a key role in the future of risk management.

“Five, six years ago, we rarely thought about using artificial intelligence in banking to help us manage risk,” she said. Today, AI is being used to analyse customer data to streamline the risk management process.

“I would imagine that a lot of changes will happen from now on in the next few years,” she said.