Cathy Meng, Huawei Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Committee of Huawei’s Board of Directors, said in her keynote speech, delivered at the 2013 ICT Finance Forum in London on November 20, “This new centre will be responsible for managing risks of our critical finance functions including account treatment, liquidity management, foreign exchange risk management, credit management, and global financial compliance. It will become the overall financial risk assessment and control centre for Huawei, and will help Huawei carry out consistent and low-risk financial operation globally, allowing us to continuously providing our customers with high-quality services.”
Ms. Meng went on to say, “As one of the world's key financial centres, London is in an important strategic position. The city not only has the skills and expertise that Huawei requires to realise operational excellence, but also has language and time zone advantages that make it an ideal location for Huawei's Global Finance Centre.”
Sajid Javid MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who attended today’s forum, said, “We are proud that Huawei is choosing to invest in the UK, benefitting not only from our innovative technology sector but also our world-leading financial services. This re-iterates Britain’s position as a centre for global finance, ideally placed for a global firm like Huawei to further its operations.”
As part of the company’s larger commitment to the country, in which its investment and procurement will be GBP £1.3 billion by 2017, the newly established Global Finance Centre of Excellence is part of Huawei’s overall global finance department and will focus on risk assessment across five key areas: market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, country risk, and counterparty risk. The centre includes a credit management function that will assess credit risk associated with doing business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The centre will also include a team responsible for managing the company’s relationships with international banks and finance partners located in London.