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msMICHAEL SHANG
N°02 — AUTHOR PROFILE

Michael
Shang.

Commercial banker in Auckland—trade finance, working capital and structured lending across the China–New Zealand corridor.

TRADE FINANCE & STRUCTURED LENDINGSINCE 2009 IN BANKING
THE ARGUMENT,
IN THREE LESSONS

I learned the mechanics of trust in Beijing, in Bank of China’s head-office trade services team. Documentary credit is a machine for letting strangers do business: nobody relies on anyone’s word, and everything relies on whether the documents match the story.

Corporate banking on the New Zealand side of the corridor taught the opposite lesson: most cross-border deals do not fail on substance. They fail in translation—between information organised for running a business and information organised for underwriting one, between relationship-led expectations and disclosure-led process. I have spent much of my career as the person in the middle of that translation.

The mid-market years since added a third conviction: what growing businesses lack is rarely ambition, and rarely capital. It is structure—the precise request, the covenant calendar that fits the actual cash cycle, the evidence assembled before it is asked for. That is the gap this site is written into.

The views on this site are my own and do not represent those of my employer or any institution I work with.

BASED IN
Auckland, NZ
BACKGROUND
China · New Zealand
IN BANKING
16+ yrs — since 2009

Areas of expertise

FOUR REGISTERS
LENDING
Senior secured cash-flow lending (capex term debt)
Working capital — OD, RCF, seasonal funding
Structured lending with clear risk mitigants
TRADE & MARKETS
Trade finance — LCs, documentary trade
Funding, FX and liquidity aligned to real trade flows
Cross-border transaction banking
CLIENT FOCUS
Asian-linked mid-market corporates
Primary industries and manufacturing
New-to-bank origination and acquisition
MARKETS
New Zealand mid-market
China–New Zealand corridor
Asian-linked business development

Career

2009 — NOW · BEIJING → AUCKLAND
2025 – NOWAsian Business Lead · KiwibankAuckland
2024 – 2025Commercial Growth Manager · KiwibankAuckland
2022 – 2024Commercial Partner · Bank of New ZealandAuckland
2019 – 2021Associate Director, Transaction Banking · Bank of China (NZ)Auckland
2015 – 2019Associate Director, Corporate Banking · Bank of China (NZ)Auckland
2009 – 2014Manager, Global Trade Services · Bank of ChinaBeijing Head Office
EDUCATION
2022 – 2024University of AucklandMaster of Business Administration
2005 – 2009UIBE · BeijingBachelor · Business English & International Finance

“Good opportunities are not only found. They are clarified.”

RECURRING LINE IN THIS NOTEBOOK