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Meet Grant Pan

Grant Pan, a former Audit and Assurance Partner of Deloitte
China, and current Chief Financial Officer of Noah Private Wealth Management Chinese Mainland office and Chief Excutive Officer of its Hong Kong office.

Twenty-five years ago, Grant graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University and went to Boston, USA, for further studies. After graduation, he officially joined the Financial Services team at Deloitte's Boston office. Grant vividly remembers his first counselor at Deloitte, a senior manager at Deloitte US, who shared his vision of the future with him—striving to be the peak of profession if promoted to partner. Recalling the counselor’s words of encouragement and the gleam in his eyes, Grant still feels inspired today. He says, “As long as you always maintain a curious mind and keep exploring and learning, you will surely succeed.“

In 2005, Grant was dissatisfied with the "predictable" pace of development in the U.S. capital market. Sensing the vibrant pulse of the China miracle (Chinese economic miracle), he seized the opportunity of the Global Deployment Program and returned to his hometown, Shanghai, to provide auditing services for Chinese companies listing in the U.S. under Deloitte China Eastern Region.

However, his enthusiasm was met with challenges due to differences in national conditions and industry. Grant said that at the time, while holding a managerial position, he realized he knew very little about the operations of real industry companies. After the end of the deployment program, he decided to return to the United States to further enhance his technical expertise.

Grant recalled that the fastest factors contributing to his growth, besides studying hard and tackling projects, were the selfless help and timely advice from his Deloitte mentors. Stephanie was Grant's PIC (Partner in-Charge) and mentor during his time working in Shanghai. Even when Grant returned to the United States, Stephanie continued to provide him with cross-border guidance. Grant asked in confusion, "I have already left your team, why do you still invest extra effort in coaching me?" Stephanie's response deeply moved Grant: "This is an investment in talent. Every person I coach has the potential to become a partner in the future, not just a subordinate. The investment now is to make our team stronger."

After the global financial crisis of 2008, Grant, encouraged by the leading partners at Deloitte China, returned to Shanghai and settled down there. He joined the team that provides global offering services for Chinese companies listed overseas. During the establishment of the Deloitte China AiA team, Grant received continuous support and generous guidance from senior partners at Deloitte China. Despite already holding CPA qualifications in the United States and Hong Kong, he studied and encouraged his colleagues, working together to obtain the CICPA (China Institute of Certified Public Accountants) qualification. In Grant's view, the team at Deloitte Shanghai that serves Chinese companies listed overseas is highly motivated and proactive in serving Chinese private enterprises, which is quite different from the steady and routine approach taken by the U.S. team in advancing major client collaborations. He notes that clients in the U.S. capital markets are relatively mature and have high professional standards, while Chinese clients need institutions like Deloitte to provide comprehensive advice and guidance on aspects such as enterprise management, tax & business advisory, and financial internal controls.

In 2016, Grant was at the age of forty, and he made a tough decision: to leave Deloitte and join Noah Private Wealth Management, a well-known third-party wealth management company in China.

Choosing Noah wasn't just because he saw the potential of the third-party wealth management industry, but also because the scale of Noah asset management, which reached hundreds of billions, offered him a unique opportunity within the Chinese industry to build an in-house FDD (Financial Due Diligence) team—this allowed him to tap into his full potential.

After being promoted to CFO, Grant paid particular attention to core customer needs, always allocating specific strategic investment budgets for key client groups, using scarce products to enhance customer benefits and community.

As CFO, Grant also initiated organizational reforms, upgrading the traditional sales representative model to a "power triangle" where customer representatives, product experts, and service experts collaborate seamlessly with the support of technology.

Even after leaving Deloitte, Grant maintained the habit of studying business models across various industries, from the familiar pre-IPO stage to the emerging concept phase of angel rounds.

On the track of third-party wealth management, Grant believes that providing optimal service to clients is as important as adhering to regulatory standards. When necessary, he insists on the company having "the courage to speak about bad news upfront" to avoid greater passivity. This is the communication principle he cultivated at Deloitte: "Timely contact, being honest and practical transparency, managing customer expectations with a professional approach."

Under the concerted efforts of Grant and the senior management team, Noah is shaping a warm "companion private banking" brand.

Grant even took on the role of Brand Officer for Noah Holdings for a while, leading the team to publish a book titled "CFO Teaches You How to Read Financial Statements," aimed at educating ordinary investors and guiding rational investment, awakening customers' beautiful aspirations for wealth management. This warm and continuous customer investment helped Noah achieve substantial returns against the odds in 2021.

Epilogue

Grant feels fortunate. However, besides luck, his sincere dedication to clients has always been the foundation of his career. For the "new generation" at Deloitte China, his career advice is:

  • Strive to become the "jewel in the crown" – an industry specialist;
  • Maintain curiosity and a lifelong learning mindset;
  • Do not set limits for yourself; dare to think and act, and maintain confidence;
  • Have a clear career plan and be good at leveraging strengths to compensate for weaknesses.

In his spare time, Grant enjoys golf and jokingly refers to himself as the "President of the Second Session of the Deloitte East China Former Partners Golf Club," looking forward to reuniting with alumni for a round once the pandemic subsides.