Retail Banker of the Year 2008

Dr Ma Weihua, President & Chief Executive Officer, China Merchants Bank
A former central banker, Mr Ma Weihua has been instrumental in driving China Merchant Bank's retail business expansion, building off the bank's market first-mover "all-in-one" card concept and becoming the first Chinese player to shift from a personal account settlement system focus to a customer-centric mindset, integrating a deposit and client viewpoint. Ma has to be credited as the first Chinese banking leader who looked towards retail business development as a source of wider bank sustainability, famously telling his staff, "If you don't do corporate banking, it will be hard to survive today. However, if you don't do retail banking, then you won't survive tomorrow."

Retail Banker of the Year 2007

Mr Edmund Koh, DBS’s former Managing Director and Head of Regional Banking Group
In eight years at DBS Bank, Edmund Koh has made his mark. Mr Koh has significantly grown DBS’ consumer banking franchise across Asia. DBS is the biggest bank in Southeast Asia in terms of assets. DBS Bank retail banking franchise has grown from a mere 17 percent in 2002 to over 40 percent by end of 2007 and making DBS’s consumer franchise three times more profitable are undisputable achievements. He has a distinguished career in the Asian banking industry and has strong credentials in building successful businesses and entering new territories.”

The former Managing Director and Head of Regional Banking Group of DBS has moved on to lead Taiwan’s Ta Chong Bank.

Retail Banker of the Year 2006

Mr. Michael DeNoma, Group Executive Director of Consumer Banking, Standard Chartered Bank
Mr. Mike DeNoma is the group executive director of Standard Chartered Bank's global consumer banking business. Based in Singapore, he has been in the role since May 2000, and with the bank since July 1999. While he has worked in banking at Citibank, DeNoma also has worked outside the industry at Proctor & Gamble, Pepsi, Hutchison Whampao, and founded and run his own company in China. Besides leading a rapidly growing business for the bank, the father of six is also committed to a variety of social organisations that help children around the world, including a personal mission to stop child pornography.

Retail Banker of the Year 2005

Mr. Masamoto Yashiro, Director, Chairman of the Board, Shinsei Bank
For his staunch commitment to building from scratch an operation that has transformed retail banking in Japan, even to the envy of much larger competitors, Mr. Masamoto Yashiro was named retail banker of the year for 2005. Mr. Yashiro has not always been a banker, coming to banking only after 30 years at oil company Esso Japan. But it was at Citibank Japan in 1989 that Mr. Yashiro’s vision, the focus on the customer, began to take shape, making Citibank one of Japan’s most innovative retail banks at that time. As CEO of Shinsei Bank since its inception in June 2000, Mr. Yashiro quickly set about laying a foundation for the retail bank that covered everything from the way bank branches look, to the way mortgages are paid, to the way Japanese think about interest on their deposits, nearly forgotten in Japan for a long time. Mr. Yashiro was awarded for not only his vision, but his drive and execution to successfully build a powerhouse in banking that would endure.

Retail Banker of the Year 2004

Ms. Chanda Kochhar, Executive Director and Head of Retail, ICICI Bank
Ms. Kochhar was instrumental in building her bank’s retail business from negligible into the largest retail business in India. In five years, the business has grown throughout all areas of retail banking with over 10 million retail customers, a 30 percent market share in lending, and a 23 percent market share in credit cards in 2004. Besides strong execution skills Chanda also demonstrated leadership by handpicking and surrounding herself with the best cohort of retail bankers from the foreign banks in India to build the business in record time.

Retail Banker of the Year 2003

Mr. Wilson Chia, Head of Consumer Banking, Standard Chartered Singapore
In the year under review, Wilson Chia of Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore delivered profitability that was almost 50 percent of the turnover of his business. As StanChart Singapore at the time was only a third a size of Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong, this meant that he was delivering as much absolute profit in his Singapore business as his parent bank was in Hong Kong, where it was at least three times larger. Behind these numbers was a retail business that was lean and highly focused on achieving its numbers.

Retail Banker of the Year 2002

Ms. Chen Xiaoyen, Head of Retail Banking, ICBC
In 2002 when Chen Xiaoyen of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) won the award, she had overseen the consolidation of the bank’s 1,000 legacy data centers, into just two nationwide. She manages what is possibly the largest retail bank in the world. 100 million customers, 400,000 employees and more than 20,000 branches. Nowhere in the world is there a bank of that size, and the fact that Ms. Chen is able to steer the institution and contribute to the momentous changes taking place in China today is a testament to her caliber.