Wu’s trans-Asia plan for CTBC

In Taiwan’s cloistered financial services sector – inward-looking, unambitious, largely dominated by stodgy state-run lenders – CTBC Financial Holding stands out like a penguin suit on a farmhand. The group, which oversees CTBC Bank (its primary source of revenues and funding), as well as a fast-growing insurance division, CTBC Life, has in a few short years become the embodiment of Taiwan: aspirational, driven and determined to translate and transport its brand across Asia in the decades to come.