Bob Martin seems to have leaped off the pages of a Graham Greene novel - a charming Texan employed by a Canadian bank as its "man in Asia." In almost three decades with Bank of Montreal in Asia, including 13 years as head of regional banking, he has seen a transformation as China, in particular, has morphed from an exotic outpost to the centre of the financial world. Now, Mr. Martin is about to retire, but this kid from a dusty Texas town has put down roots in Shanghai, which will remain his window on the post-crisis world.
Will Bank of Montreal do more in China?
There is a lot to be done. China has grown tremendously over the past 30 years since it opened to the outside world. But its potential is only at the very early stages.
For our clients in Canada, there will be less reliance on the United States on a relative basis. Canadians will be looking to do more business abroad and China is the primary focus. In five to 10 years, the business relationship between Canada and China will grow exponentially. So if Bank of Montreal can't grow in that sort of environment, I think we'd have a problem - and we don't have a problem.
You took French literature at North Texas University. What was that about?
I was from a very small town - Alvarado, 1,000 people - but I was attracted to maps as a kid. It was something in my wiring. It was very natural [that] when I went to university I was drawn to foreign languages.
Of course, if you are from a small town like Alvarado, you hunger to see something else. To go to the next county was a big deal in those days.
But why Asia?
One day I was in the library and I turned right when I should have turned left, and I ended up in the stacks with Japanese literature. I picked up a book and it turned out to be haiku. I saw these characters and fell in love with the images. They looked so mysterious and it was something I had to know about.
After working in Taiwan and getting a Wharton MBA, why join a Canadian bank?
I was not a highly aggressive person and there was something about the Canadian culture that seemed more collegial than with some other banks I was interviewing with. Plus, I had been a French major. I remember going to [Bank of] Montreal the first time. I walked in, saw the receptionist and spoke to her in French but she didn't speak French. I realized at that time there were two languages in Montreal.
I had this interest in Asia, which was more an interest in civilization and language. When I got out of business school in 1980, it was just the moment China was opening up and when Bank of Montreal was making one of its major pushes into Asia. So as I was coming into the business world, with some knowledge and curiosity about China, the timing was very good.
Did you know then that China might become the dominant economic power?
You knew something was happening. You would travel into China, to these old hotels built in the 1930s, art deco stuff, and the lobbies were filled with people doing deals. There were people from everywhere. It was a very exotic scene, old dusty places, but it was still hard to imagine how this was going to be transformed. In Shanghai, the first time I visited, there was only one modern building.
