National Australia Bank names Ciqiang Lu as its Greater China business' GM

Mr Ciqiang Lu (魯賜強) has been appointed General Manager of Greater China in National Australia Bank (NAB) and commenced his role on 1 March 2016. Mr Lu is based in NAB’s Hong Kong branch located in Pacific Place.

As Australia’s largest business bank, NAB’s strategy in Asia is highly relationship-driven and focuses on supporting Australian and New Zealand business in Asia, including Greater China. As the first Australian bank to establish a presence in China in 1982, NAB also supports Chinese institutional and corporate clients looking to trade with or invest in Australia and New Zealand, particularly in the energy, utilities, natural resources, food and agribusiness sectors.

With over 20 years of banking and strategic leadership experience in Greater China, Mr Lu has the strong networks and insights necessary to deliver NAB’s business priorities in Asia and its vision of being Australia and New Zealand’s most respected bank in this region.

Mr Lu joins NAB from Natixis where he was the Senior Country Manager, Greater China for the past 9 years, based in Shanghai. In this role he was responsible for the bank’s China and Taiwan operations, working in partnership with global product and customer units to develop and execute Natixis’ China business strategy and operations.

Prior to Natixis, Mr Lu held senior roles with Société Générale where he served as Chief Operations Officer China, General Manager for Shanghai Branch and also Head of Credit and Marketing. He has a strong track record of growing sustainable businesses and a broad banking background with strong product capability, particularly in areas such as structured asset finance, commodities, transactional banking and derivatives. His previous experience also includes responsibility for both Financial Institution and Corporate client coverage teams.

Prior to banking, Mr Lu, who is fluent in French, English and Mandarin, worked as a translator for 3 years with the Chinese Association for International Understanding in Beijing before joining KPMG’s audit team in Paris.

NAB Executive General Manager for International Branches, Peter Coad, said, “Relationships are vital to making in-roads into China and NAB has been in China building those relationships longer than any other Australian bank. As we continue to support our Australia and New Zealand clients looking to increasingly gain exposure to the biggest growth economy in the world, Ciqiang will be a welcome addition to our offering and will ensure we can meet the growing needs of our clients in the Greater China market.”

Mr Lu oversees over 300 people in NAB’s Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing branches that focus on supporting customers through relationship banking, trade finance, working capital and markets solutions across Greater China, Australia and New Zealand. NAB’s China Banking business continues to be managed by Mr Danny Armstrong, General Manager of China Banking, who will report to Mr Lu.