TRAILBLAZER
is culturally taboo and at a time when private enterprise was still relatively uncommon , just 10 years after China ’ s economic reform .
His understatedness , however , has not prevented him from being ambitious . As CEO of Ping An , “ he embarked on an aggressive acquisition strategy into banking , blockchain , wealth management and traffic control systems ”, according to the Financial Times .
In the mid-1990s , he courted the company ’ s first foreign investment after meeting executives from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs at a lychee festival in Shenzhen . The investment made Ping An the first Chinese insurer with foreign shareholders , and it was one of the first private equity investments in a Chinese company .
Talking about his attitude to securing growth , Ma would later say : “ If you want to cross the river , use the bridge . It ' s quicker and more efficient and you don ’ t have to get wet .”
More recently , he is seen as instrumental in Ping An ’ s private calls for HSBC to separate its Asian and Western operations , which some observers believe would allow the bank to concentrate on remaining profitable and future-proofing itself against political sanctions . It is an about-turn for Ping An , which , having once been part-owned by HSBC , is now its largest single shareholder .
A spokesperson for the company said it “ supports a debate about the future of the bank ” and “ supports all reforms and proposals from investors that can help HSBC ’ s operations and long-term growth ”. For its part , HSBC seems to be taking the calls seriously . Though the bank
US $ 11.2mn
Ma started out with 42mn yuan in founding capital for Ping An
US $ 100bn
Today , Ping An boasts more than in net premiums written per year
220mn
Today , Ping An has over 220 million retail customers and more than 600 million website users
18 July 2022