Noor Menai

Noor Menai is a Pakistani-American banker. He has served as the President and CEO of Charles Schwab Bank (2006–07) and of CTBC Bank USA (2010–present).[1]

Background

Menai came to the US from Pakistan at the age of 19. He attended the University of Rochester in New York state from 1986 to 1989, receiving a bachelor's degree in economics.[2] He received an MBA from the university the following year.[3] Menai also attended the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois in 1994.[4]

Menai’s banking career began at JPMorgan Chase in 1990, where he worked in branch support and other retail banking positions. In 1997, he joined Citibank, where he would remain for the next nine years in a variety of roles, eventually becoming a Senior Vice President.[2]

Charles Schwab and Fajr Capital

In 2006, Menai became President and CEO of Charles Schwab Bank, holding the position for 11 months. In this role, he oversaw a re-designed deposit platform for the bank, titled "World’s Best Checking." Menai has argued that "most really successful chief executives are tech friendly," and describes his role as CEO as a "mechanic-in-chief."[3] He therefore worked to institute technological innovation at Charles Schwab, for example permitting employees to have multiple configurations on their computers for work and for personal use.[1][5]

In 2007, Menai helped to found Fajr Capital, a sovereign-backed private equity firm based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[6]

CTBC Bank

Menai was made the President and CEO of CTBC Bank (USA), headquartered in Los Angeles, in 2010. The bank subsequently saw three years of record growth. In a later interview, he described what he liked about the position as being "a great marriage of the tremendous Asian capability for sustained hard work and the know-how that people like me acquire during our careers at places like Citi and JP Morgan."[3]

He worked to expand the bank's small business lending, arguing that small businesses were often more flexible in response to marketplace demands than large ones.[7] In 2014, Menai predicted that the future of banking would "be more about simple servicing and going back to their roots of being intermediaries, taking excess savings and channeling them in a safe manner to the best uses in our various industries, and customer needs that are realistic to their income levels."[3]

An important part of CTBC's business is assisting with investment and immigration from China.[8] Menai opposes "Cold War" thinking in US/Chinese relations, believing that it harms the economies of both nations and leads to "wasted treasure and a stalemate neither we nor the rest of the world can afford."[9] After the turmoil in Chinese markets in late 2015/early 2016, Menai predicted to the Los Angeles Times that more Chinese investors would be moving money overseas, creating further business opportunities for banks like CTBC.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 Stephen Pritchard. "Profile: Noor Menai, head of US operations at Chinatrust Commercial Bank." The Financial Times. October 18, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Noor Menai." Bloomberg.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "A Discussion with CTBC Bank’s Noor Menai." Boyden 5.21.
  4. ↑ Noor Menai. LinkedIn.
  5. ↑ "Boyden's Leadership Series Features CTBC Bank's Noor Menai." Market Watch. June 2, 2014.
  6. ↑ Chris Cumming. "Taiwanese Bank Taps Industry Veteran to Lead Its US Operations." American Banker. January 2, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Noor Menai, CEO Of CTBC Bank USA, Speaks At The Los Angeles Economic Forecast Breakfast" The Street. January 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ "China Investors Believe in Government, but Look to US." Bloomberg. August 27, 2015.
  9. ↑ Noor Menai. "US needs to ditch Cold War thinking in Asia." The Financial Times. March 24, 2015.
  10. ↑ Chris Kirkham and Paresh Dave. "China's financial turmoil won't disrupt California's economy." Los Angeles Times. January 8, 2016.
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