Financial Smarts/Corporate Governance, no longer a western stronghold

In what I sense as a sea change in the global attitude towards Eastern banks and financial systems, Mckinsey Quarterly published an interview with the chairman of ICBC, where Mr. Jiang Jianqing is telling Mck how ICBC came to be a bank that has not only survived the global disaster but is currently growing and stabilizing in terms of corporate governance. Their goals are ambitious and their plan is clear. 

In another interview, also conducted by Dominic Barton, a director at the Shanghai office, John Thornton, erstwhile President of Goldman Sachs and now an independant director for ICBC, China Netcom and various other firms tells Mck how Chinese state-owned giants incorporated corporate governance in their own way. Unlike most western commentators on China, Mr. Thorntons views are much more tempered, having been part of the change, he recognizes leadership in these firms are more than just capable and talks the reader through what instituting of boards and governance meant in this context.

Having been in China for almost 2 years now, I have heard all sorts of remarks berating Chinese banking, management, capability and integrity. How high the NPAs are, how badly managed they are, how unsophisticated they are. I suspect if I was a foreigner in India or any other Asian country, I would hear similar things. That is exactly why I was surprised and fairly pleased. Possibly one of the few decent side effects of the global financial crisis.

These two articles from the worlds best paid wise guys underline a marked change in the way that the west will talk to the east in the future. Not condescending, not patronizing. As equals. 

The asian elephants march forward. Slow, steady but forward.