AIMS Financial celebrates its 20th anniversary in December 2011.

Wang Renqing, chairman of the board and CEO of AIMS Financial Group

Living in a highly globalized world, it is increasingly convenient for entrepreneurs to run a business in almost any corner of the planet.

Only a few decades ago, the idea of starting business in a foreign country meant facing unimaginable difficulties and challenges.

Despite difficulties, many ambitious youth still went abroad in search of opportunity. Among them is George Wang, chairman of the board and CEO of AIMS Financial Group.

Wang's is a story of how an ordinary young Chinese man became a top financier in Australia and then brought his success back to his homeland.

Wang was born in Qionghai, a small city in southern island province of Hainan in the 1960s.

He spent his childhood in the local library, where an ample supply of books provided him with knowledge of the outside world while piquing his interest in exploring it.

After graduating from Donghua University in Shanghai in the 1980s, he decided to quit a promising job and flew to Australia with nothing but AU$2,000 in pocket.

His first job was selling insurance for a company called AMP. Drawing on a tireless work ethic, he eventually achieved an annual income of over AU$100,000 ($93,670) , which served as the basis for his fortune.

Though he had stability and a career that guaranteed a promising future, Wang took a risk by resigning to start his own business.

He founded AIMS in 1991, and gradually expanded its operations to cover loans, importing and exporting, legal services, tax agent as well as realty.

Today AIMS Financial is already a large financial and investment group focusing on Australia and China. It currently offers realty loans, personal loans, realty trust fund management, risk investment, investment banking as well as stock exchange ownership.

AIMS has been granted more than 30 honors by financial societies in Australia.

Wang Renqing, chairman of the board and CEO of AIMS Financial Group

Opportunities amid crisis

Five years have passed, but the financial crisis of 2008 still looms large in the minds of many businesspeople.

With many financial institutions going bankrupt and still more on the brink, the whole global financial market has suffered a heavy blow.

Wang and his company are adept at seeking opportunities amid crisis, he said.

While many financial practitioners stood helpless, he was busy incorporating or purchasing one after another profitable enterprises. Thus, AIMS experienced miraculous growth amid the crisis.

The secret to his success lies in remaining alert, he said. In 2006 and 2007, when the market was comparably prosperous, Wang had already clearly recognized the fact that many financial institutions issued loans without ever thinking about how to get them back.

Thus he decided to sell most assets, eventually releasing hold of over AU$400 million worth of mortgage assets.

"I sensed that the financial market was full of problems in 2006," he said, "so we tightened our businesses and sold off the assets at a good price in 2007."

Everybody knows what happened a few months later–he narrowly escaped a global financial crisis.

Actually he did more than that. Wang and AIMS had expanded by purchasing several corporations, like the Australia Pacific Exchange Limited, one of the three stock exchanges that are licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

After thorough preparations, Wang was able to incorporate it within two weeks. Now known as the Asia Pacific Stock Exchange Ltd, it is one of the few Western stock exchanges to be owned by a single company.

In November 2009, he also purchased 100 percent of MacarthurCook Limited (MCK), a renowned real estate fund management company. Since the takeover in 2009, AIMS has successfully stabilized the fund management platform and has grown funds under management to over AU$1.5 billion. This move also granted him another honor－AMP Capital, his former employer, expressed an interest to cooperate, so Wang agreed to sell half of MI-REIT shares (one of MCKs real estate funds) to them and enter into a joint partnership. After 20 years, this former employee had become an important partner to AMP Capital.

Wang Renqing, chairman of the board and CEO of AIMS Financial Group

Bringing success home

Now that his businesses are flourishing in Australia, Wang said he hopes to give back to his homeland.

"Wherever I am, my attention is always focused on China," he said.

Actually, one of the reasons he purchased Asia Pacific Stock Exchange

is to promote Sino-Australian financial cooperation. "The two forces (of China and Australia) will be astonishing if joined together," he said, "AIMS can be the best bridge. We know how to do that."

They have even been given a special distinction – AIMS Financial Group is the first Australian company to be admitted by the Chinese Government to Qianhai, a special economic zone situated in Shenzhen near Hong Kong.

He also opened cinon.com to serve global Chinese as well as provide financial news feeds. The website also allows visitors to trade stocks and apply for credit cards and loans online.

As chairman of the Australia-China Finance and Investment Council, Wang paid numerous visits to China for discussions of domestic economic issues.

He has provided proposals and funding for infrastructure construction on the mainland as well. In April 2008, he joined Premier Kevin Rudd's delegation to China and signed agricultural and mineral strategic cooperation agreements with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

On former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's second visit to China, he witnessed and endorsed the Signing Ceremony for AIMS with Peking weimeng group on 8th of August 2008, the opening day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In the following June, the Guangdong Construction Engineering Group also sent representatives to Australia and signed similar agreements on urban management and new energy.

Wang has high expectations for China's financial market. He firmly believes that "China is where our hope is," he said.

He said entering China's market is one of the company's most important goals. He is not only recruiting Chinese professionals but also plans to offer a full range of financial services in China, paving the way toward fulfilling his longtime ambition for AIMS to stand as the preeminent financial bridge between Australia and China.

Contact the writers at lifangping@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/22/2013 page18)