Technology has historically been a male-dominated sphere but Christine Lam is one of the few women to have made it to the top in this area after becoming Citi’s head of operations and technology for Asia earlier this year.
The unit has more than 20,000 employees and technology is a critical unit for the US bank, given increasingly more onerous regulatory requirements.
Lam is new to the role but since she took on the reins, she has hit the ground running, travelling around the region and meeting with her team to discuss ways to improve Citi’s operations and technology infrastructure in Asia.
A career banker, Lam joined Citi as a management associate in the Financial Institutions Group in 1983.
She subsequently worked in various business and operation roles in Canada and Hong Kong and spent a significant number of years in trade services and the worldwide securities business.
She steadily worked her way to the top, becoming chief operating officer for Asia global banking in 2004 and deputy country business manager for Hong Kong with direct responsibility for the retail business in 2011.
Lam has been country business manager for Hong Kong and Macau since 2013, demonstrating strong leadership skills in managing one of Citi’s largest consumer businesses in Asia.
She has also done substantial work internally to promote women within Citi in Asia. For example, Lam has played a key role in Citi Women, a company-wide effort designed to attract, develop and advance female talent.
She has mentored several women who have been appointed to senior roles. She also played a leading role in Citi Women’s leadership development program in Hong Kong.
FinanceAsia’s 2015 honour roll of the most influential women across the Asia Pacific region spans investment and commercial bankers.
Published as a feature in the July / August 2015 print edition of FinanceAsia, the series also presents leading women in new areas of finance such as fintech where Asian companies are among the fastest-growing in the world.
We also canvassed corporate financiers for exceptional women working in deal advisory including lawyers and accountants. In the process of researching the series, we found evidence of progress in creating more diverse workplaces in the region.
