City University of Macau recently held a finance seminar at Ho Yin Conference Center, Taipa Campus, inviting Mr. Lo Kit Sang, Executive Director, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Well Link Bank, exploring liquidity and liability management. Attendees included Ms. Joana Leong, Regional Director of Well Link Bank, Dean Cheung Wai Kong Adrian and Associate Dean Khong Yueng Wah Eva of the Faculty of Finance.

Mr. Lo Kit Sang has nearly 50 years of experience in the banking industry and has held various key positions such as Senior Financial Management Manager of Bank of China Hong Kong Branch and General Manager of the Finance Department of Nanyang Commercial Bank (China), focusing on financial management, liquidity risk control and asset-liability allocation. Mr. Lo is not only a FIPA (Fellow Institute of Public Accountants), FFA (Fellow Financial Accountant) and FAIA (Fellow International Accountant), but also holds the title of Senior Technician (Level 1) in Financial Management issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the PRC, which is a recognition of his outstanding professional competence in the field of financial management.

During the seminar, Mr. Lo made an in-depth analysis of the importance of liquidity and asset-liability management in banks, emphasizing that the financial crisis is closely related to liquidity risk and that banks need to attach great importance to liquidity risk management. Citing the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States in March 2023 as an example, he suggested that the root cause of its bankruptcy was asset-liability mismatch, with short liabilities and long assets. Interest rate hikes raised the cost of liabilities, resulting in asset floatation, customer runs and the eventual need to liquidate assets. He also cited the examples of the Lehman Brothers incident in 2008 and the Southeast Asian financial turmoil in 1997 to analyze how to cope with market fluctuations and risks through effective asset and liability allocation. Mr. Lo then explained how to cope with the impact of interest rate fluctuations on a bank's balance sheet through the use of Funds Transfer Pricing (FTP) and Interest Rate Risk Management (IRM) tools to ensure that the bank maintains sound operations in a complex financial environment.

Mr. Lo also shared his concept of team management. Combined with the art of team management in “Journey to the West”, he believed that a successful team needs to be characterized by clear goals, role recognition and matching of competencies and positions, to form a positive working atmosphere, and to work together to drive the team to operate efficiently and ultimately to achieve its goals. Therefore, he encouraged students to learn more soft skills to add value to themselves.

During the interactive session, Mr. Lo shared his career development experience in the banking industry, and hoped that the young generation would actively enhance their knowledge of the financial market and financial professionalism to grasp the development opportunities of the industry. Mr. Lo emphasized that with the strengthening of the linkage between Macao's financial market and the Greater Bay Area, more cross-border development opportunities will be provided for young financial talents in the future, and students should focus on cultivating their regional and international perspectives on finance, paying attention to geo-political developments, and upgrading their international outlook.

Teachers and students expressed their gratitude to Mr. Lo Kit Sang and Ms. Joana Leong for their wonderful sharing. Through this seminar, they will further grasp the market experience and the latest development of banks' liquidity management and asset-liability management. Students actively exchanged ideas with the guests to understand the development trend and challenges of financial enterprises, and gained a clearer understanding of the future development direction of the financial industry.