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The 2016 Fintech Finance 35: Calvin Choi

No. 31

By Peter Vasiliev

November 14, 2016

< Fintech's Most Powerful Dealmakers of 2016

31. Calvin Choi

Chairman

AMTD Group

PNR

Backed by leading Hong Kong tycoons, including Li Ka-shing, AMTD Group has become a force in the capital markets advisory business, leading recent H-share offerings of Everbright Securities Co. ($1.1 billion), Bank of Tianjin Co. ($950 million), and Bank of Qingdao Co. ($640 million), among other transactions. Calvin Choi, a former UBS and Citigroup investment banker who became AMTD chairman in February, is opening up an investment channel in a sector he defines as “Greater China fintech opportunities” — and he has a whopping $1 billion to deploy. “We expect to see accelerated growth in fintech investing following the increased scrutiny by regulators and attention from institutional players regionally,” says Choi, 38, who was previously a managing director at UBS Investment Bank, a member of that bank’s global family office committee in Hong Kong, and head of Citi’s China strategic alliance unit. AMTD and related stakeholders own 10 percent of Shanghai-based peer-to-peer lender Dianrong, which Choi says is within two years of an IPO. He notes that Chinese P2P company Yirendai has already gone public. Yet another, Lufax, is expected to follow next year, and Choi anticipates “gradual consolidations and mergers” will follow over time. “Expect more global fintech players to establish partnerships with local players and alliances with institutions regionally to expand beyond their local markets,” he says. Conversely, he predicts Greater China investors will move into North American markets, following a trail blazed by Singapore’s Shanda Group, headed by Chinese gaming magnate Chen Tianqiao; Shanda bought 11.7 percent of then-troubled Lending Club in May and raised its stake to 15.1 percent in June.

The 2016 Fintech Finance 35