China Seminar | 14 November 2013

Why Are The Chinese Investing Overseas And Is Hawaii Benefiting From These?

Betty Hoang Brow

China is growing in wealth and power and is projected to overtake the U.S. in GDP in the 2020’s. The Chinese government is actively encouraging both state-owned and privately-owned enterprises and individuals to seek overseas investments and the U.S. is increasingly a destination for Chinese investments. However, by all accounts, Hawaii is being by-passed by the Chinese investors in favor of cities like LA, SF, NY and Houston. The speaker will discuss the importance for Hawaii businesses to understand the reasons for the Chinese seeking overseas investments in order to better position Hawaii to attract these investments.

Betty Brow is the EVP of the International Banking Division at BOH, with a focus on China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Philippines and S.E. Asia. Betty started her career with the US Postal Service and later served as a diplomat at US embassies in Moscow and Beijing. Betty then spent 20 years in Hong Kong working for Chemical Bank (now JP Morgan-Chase), Banker’s Trust (Deutsche Bank), and International Bank of Asia (Fubon Bank), in commercial, investment and retail banking. After her return to the US, she worked for ASB before joining BOH in 2007. Born in Vietnam, Betty has lived in India, France, Russia, China, and Hong Kong. She currently serves on the boards of many non-profit organizations, including the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Vietnamese-American Chamber of Commerce (current President of both), the Advisory Board of the African-American Diversity Cultural Center (current Chairwoman), the EWC Foundation, the YWCA of Oahu, the Girl Scouts of Hawaii, PAAC, etc.