Amanda Liu

Amanda Liu is a banker through and through. “I’ve been working for a bank since graduation,” she said. But this banker has now found herself leading an initiative at the cutting edge of crypto.

Liu has focused her career on corporate banking and client service. She worked her way up through a number of institutions: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Commerzbank, BNP Paribas. In each case she ran coverage for different sectors, from utilities to real estate to conglomerates.

She got bigger jobs, heading the large-corporates desk at ANZ, and then at Banco Santander, where she ended up running corporate and investment banking in Hong Kong.

But she saw banking was going to get tougher, with more regulation and more competition – especially, in Hong Kong, from mainland institutions. At the same time fintech, especially blockchain, was heating up.

In 2017 she made the leap, taking on the general manager role at OAX Foundation, a new non-profit building a decentralized exchange. “Every day there are new things to work on,” she said. “It’s fast moving.”

Although she’s learning new things every day, Liu says her banker’s experience remains relevant. “I know how to deal with stakeholders,” she said. “And a banking background helps to deal with regulation, including KYC and AML.”