ICBC NZ CEO Bin Liu sees exciting opportunities to finance New Zealand’s infrastructure transformation, writes Tim McCready

ICBC NZ CEO Bin Liu sees exciting opportunities to finance New Zealand’s infrastructure transformation, writes Tim McCready

New Zealand is entering a critical new phase of infrastructure development. Decades of underinvestment, rapid urban growth, and the increasing impacts of climate change have converged to create both a challenge and an opportunity.

ICBC New Zealand, a subsidiary of the world’s largest bank by total assets and capital, sees compelling potential for Chinese capital to support this transformation. With more than 11 years of local operations, the bank draws on global experience and deep funding capability to deliver tailored, ESG-aligned financing solutions for New Zealand.

Speaking at the recent China Business Summit in Auckland, Bin Liu, CEO of ICBC New Zealand reflected on the state of the market.

“I have three key takeaways from the past year,” he said. “First, we are finally seeing more infrastructure projects moving — and at a bigger scale than before.

Agribusiness and Trade: New Zealand launches grass-fed standard

Agribusiness and Trade: New Zealand launches grass-fed standard

  • Official standard will increase demand for our products and enhance the credibility of our quality products.
  • Producers who meet the standard can be assessed and choose to display a licensed FernMark Grass-Fed logo.
  • The standard will be reviewed after one year, and then at least every three years.

New Zealand red meat and dairy producers can now be certified as producing grass-fed meat and dairy under a new standard introduced by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and launched at Fieldays.

The New Zealand Grass-Fed Administrative Standard provides a formal, Government-recognised definition of what constitutes grass-fed production. Producers who meet the standard can be assessed and choose to display a licensed FernMark Grass-Fed logo, issued by the government agency New Zealand Story.

“Industry has informed the Government that there are customer requests for Government backing of this important attribute in key markets,” says Jenny Cameron, Chief Transformation Officer at the Ministry for Primary Industries.

“By facilitating and coordinating a standard across the pastoral sector, we are able to demonstrate and prove our grass-fed credentials, which will help to maintain or increase demand for our products and enhance the credibility of our quality products.”

Cameron notes that there is significant and growing demand from consumers around the world to know how their food is produced, and to have traceability in the supply chain for products they buy.

“New Zealand can provide that,” she says. “We are proud of the way we farm in New Zealand with high biosecurity, sanitary, animal welfare and sustainable practices. We want to ensure these attributes are recognised and understood by the world.”

New Zealand’s temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall and sunshine, means our dairy and red meat sectors are largely pasture-based.

“This is a key point of difference for New Zealand’s dairy and red meat production, as animals on most other countries’ red meat and dairy farms spend much of the year indoors or eating grain-based diets,” says Cameron. The standard applies separately to red meat and dairy, and is designed to strengthen international market access and validate New Zealand’s long-standing pasture-based farming systems.

For dairy, the standard requires that animals spend at least 340 days per year, for at least eight hours per day, on pasture or forage crops, and have a diet comprised of at least 90% qualifying grass-fed feed.

For red meat, animals must be predominantly fed grass-fed feed types and be permitted to graze outdoors on pasture or forage crops year-round. Feedlots are not allowed, and animals must be removed from pasture or forage crops only for animal management purposes or to safeguard them or the environment from adverse events.

The new standard is voluntary, and there is no requirement for red meat or dairy producers to use it, but MPI says it expects it to become a valuable tool for differentiation.

“We anticipate that China is a market this will be particularly relevant for, but we also know other markets have customers and consumers that make choices based on grass-fed or grain-fed for their own or family consumption, as well as for pets,” says Cameron.

“Only about 10% of the world’s dairy is grazed on pasture, and New Zealand has the greatest time outdoors of any country.”

An independent review commissioned by MPI compared the New Zealand standard to similar international frameworks in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. It found New Zealand’s requirement for 340 grazing days for dairy is higher than that of other standards.

The development of the standard has involved wide industry consultation. Cameron says dairy and red meat companies have been a part of the development of the voluntary standard, and have been strong proponents for it.

“Since the launch at Fieldays, we have received positive feedback from farmers and industry as a whole,” she says. “As of 27 June, we have had three grass-fed schemes listed as meeting the standard: Fonterra, Spring Sheep, and Westland Milk Products.”

The standard will be reviewed after one year, and then at least every three years, to ensure it remains fit for purpose as environmental and market conditions evolve.

Agribusiness and Trade: Sustainable food innovator seeks inspiration from NZ

Ray Poh from one of Singapore’s leading vertical farms talks with Tim McCready about what he can learn from New Zealand’s agriculture sector.

Artisan Green, founded in 2018 by Ray Poh, is a high-tech, indoor farm that uses stacked growing systems, precision automation and plant science to produce pesticide-free leafy greens in the densely populated city-state.

Poh didn’t start out in agriculture. After years working in the casino industry in Macau, he returned to Singapore looking for a new challenge that was meaningful and sustainable.

That led him to vertical farming, a sector combining climate-controlled growing environments with data and automation. With no prior experience, he began experimenting on a small indoor site with practical knowledge gained through site visits and workshops in Japan and Australia, and volunteering at other farms.

Now, Artisan Green is the country’s top producer of baby spinach as well as other leafy greens and herbs.

In land-scarce Singapore, space is precious. But so is food security.

Singapore imports more than 90% of what it eats, however, as part of its “30 by 30″ goal to produce 30% of its nutritional needs locally by 2030, the Government tenders parcels of land for agriculture. Artisan Green won its plot by demonstrating the commercial viability and technical sophistication of its operation.

From its original 300 square metre facility, the company is preparing to move into a new two-hectare site in Singapore’s designated agriculture zone. The expansion includes a 5500sq m vertical farm, along with significant outdoor greenhouse space and a 4000sq m facility to support post-harvest operations.

This will lift production from one tonne a month to 30 tonnes per month in the initial phase. The second phase will see this increase to 90 tonnes per month.

Poh says the larger scale will allow Artisan Green to bring prices down and make the locally grown produce more competitive.

“Our aim is to price between overseas imports and imported organic produce,” he says. “People support us even though we’re more expensive than imports because we’re local, and our customers – especially younger families – want to avoid exposing their children to pesticides.”

In partnership with Siemens, Artisan Green has digitised its crop recipes: water and nutrient profiles, lighting cycles and temperature settings, allowing consistent yields without relying on a large team of plant scientists.

“We encapsulate the entire growing cycle into our recipes,” he says, “which means that anyone using this platform in the future will not have to be a plant scientist to operate it.”

Poh explains that the intellectual property developed will help make future expansion easier. With the science centralised and scalable, Artisan Green can replicate its model overseas using local workers, without having to bring in expensive technical talent.

He likens it to McDonald’s. “You don’t have chefs in McDonald’s. You just need operators, while all the R&D is done in the central kitchen.”

Poh was in New Zealand last month as part of the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s ASEAN Young Business Leaders Initiative programme.

The delegation of 11 agribusiness entrepreneurs visited businesses around the country and attended Fieldays to learn about New Zealand’s agricultural sector, build local connections, and explore future business opportunities.

Poh says that for a city-based grower like him, seeing how New Zealand brings together science, industry and government in the agribusiness sector has been eye-opening.

“Agriculture is in New Zealand’s blood,” he says. “It’s not just individual farmers doing their own thing, you can see how industry and government work together to advance the sector.”

He points to New Zealand’s plant science research and downstream operations, including packhouses, marketing, and distribution networks, as areas that Singapore still needs to develop.

Too often, he says, small farms in Singapore fail not because they can’t grow food, but because they can’t get it to customers efficiently. It’s one reason why Poh started his own distribution company, which now handles produce from other local farms as well.

There are lessons New Zealand might take from Singapore too, particularly the value of investing in science to develop high-value crops that can command a premium.

“We can’t grow things like baby spinach outdoors in Singapore. It’s too hot. So we grow it indoors. But to make that work, you need margins, and you need to grow something premium,” Poh says.

And you need to know your science.

“A lot of people think AI or automation is going to revolutionise agriculture. But you can’t eat software,” he says.

“So you need to know your basics in plant science first, then automate from there.”

Poh sees both countries as coming at the same problem from different angles. New Zealand has deep-rooted farming knowledge and strong science institutions. Singapore brings innovation in urban food production.

If the future of food is global, then the best ideas will likely grow in both places.

China Business Summit 2025: Prize Draw

Prizes courtesy of Air New Zealand and Silver Fern Farms

Katy Riddell, Summit Event Director
Sam Winstanley, Senior Manager Corporate, Government & SME Sales, Air New Zealand
Tim McCready, Summit MC

The 2025 China Business Summit was held on 18 July 2025 at Cordis, Auckland.
Brought to you by NZ INC. and Auckland Business Chamber.

China Business Summit 2025: Perceptions Matter with New Zealand Story’s David Downs

David Downs, CEO of New Zealand Story, unpacks the latest China Market Perception research from New Zealand Story, revealing how Chinese consumers view their nation, and how this shapes their perception of other countries, including New Zealand. David covers what the research shows for sectors like education, food and beverage, and tech – including the need to leverage our strengths in safety and innovation, emphasise our technical capability, and tell stories that resonate with Chinese consumers.

Moderator: Tim McCready, Summit MC

The 2025 China Business Summit was held on 18 July 2025 at Cordis, Auckland.
Brought to you by NZ INC. and Auckland Business Chamber.

China Business Summit 2025: Tourism and Education, turning the tide

Tourism and international education were among the hardest-hit sectors during the pandemic. While global travel has largely rebounded, New Zealand’s recovery in the China market continues to lag behind.

What’s holding us back, and how do we turn it around?

In this session, Lisa Li MNZM (China Travel Service), Professor Dawn Freshwater (Vice Chancellor, University of Auckland), Carrie Hurihanganui (Chief Executive, Auckland Airport) and Jessica Miao (United Media Solution) share insights on how the landscape has shifted, explore strategies to reignite growth, and discuss what a sustainable rebound to pre-pandemic levels looks like.

Moderator: Tim McCready, Summit MC

—
The 2025 China Business Summit was held on 18 July 2025 at Cordis, Auckland.
Brought to you by NZ INC. and Auckland Business Chamber.

China Business Summit 2025: Opening

Tim McCready and Renata Blair of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei get the China Business Summit underway.

The 2025 China Business Summit was held on 18 July 2025 at Cordis, Auckland.
Brought to you by NZ INC. and Auckland Business Chamber.

 

AI levelling the investment field

Artificial intelligence is fast becoming one of the most powerful forces reshaping global finance.

At the annual Asian Financial Forum held earlier this year in Hong Kong, leading industry voices painted a picture of a very near financial future driven by artificial intelligence (AI), where algorithms are rapidly surpassing humans not just in speed, but in the capacity to analyse, synthesise and act on data.

“Generative AI is the single most disruptive technology that we have ever experienced in human history,” said Sinovation Ventures chair and AI expert Dr Kai-Fu Lee.

“We now have AI thinking better and faster than people most of the time for most tasks.”

Lee argued that this shift is not limited to trading desks or research teams, but that every department in a financial firm should be incorporating AI tools.

He pointed out that the number-centric nature of finance makes it especially conducive to fast, scalable deployment of AI.

“You can’t use AI to make a car instantly, but in the financial industry you are not shipping physical goods, you’re dealing with numbers.”

Lee, formerly the head of Google China, isn’t talking about a hypothetical future.

He cited an AI-enhanced market index fund backed by his venture capital (VC) firm, which allows only AI to buy and sell stocks – humans are excluded from the process entirely. He said the fund outperforms the market index by around 30% each year.

High-Flyer Capital Management, a Chinese hedge fund founded in 2016, gained attention for using machine learning to identify mispriced stocks and time trades.

Its funds have returned 151% in total (or around 13% annualised) since 2017 – a standout performance amid a volatile China market. Regulatory changes in 2024 forced the closure of its market-neutral funds, but High-Flyer’s successes continue to influence a new wave of AI-led investment innovation.

Lee described the global AI race as a tale of two superpowers: the US, leading on groundbreaking research through its culture of innovation and strength in fundamental science, and China, excelling in the practical implementation of user-facing applications.

“WeChat is better than WhatsApp. TikTok is better than Instagram,” he noted. “Chinese teams have figured out how to find product–market fit globally.”

China’s fintech firms, in particular, have been early adopters of large language model (LLMs) like DeepSeek, which received attention earlier this year for claiming performance comparable to OpenAI’s GPT-4 at a significantly lower training cost.

Lee’s message to a room full of finance professionals was direct: if your firm is not integrating AI into research, trading and operations today, it is already falling behind.

“AI should be doing most of the writing. AI should be doing most of the reading. I use AI to read all my news … to ask what the top news are today, or what are three stocks I should buy or sell,” he said.

AI removes one of the most common pitfalls for investors: emotion. Tools now allow for real-time sentiment tracking and automated triggers based on logic and data.

But not every role will disappear. Lee sees long-term investing, M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and relationship-based advice remaining human-led. What’s at risk are roles driven by short-term analysis and repeatable decision-making.

“Computer trading replaced floor traders. AI trading will replace a lot of traders today,” he says.

“So now would be a good time for people in the financial industry to upgrade their skills. Otherwise, their job will simply be replaced.”

He suggested financial services firms consider appointing a chief AI officer: someone who understands the technology deeply and can lead transformation across departments, from legal and HR to asset management.

Democratising financial access
AI has already been embedded across the capital markets landscape, with large and small financial institutions using AI not just to assist human analysts, but to automate decision-making at scale. It is powering everything from trade execution and risk modelling to real-time sentiment tracking, portfolio optimisation and fraud detection.

But Lee says this is only just the beginning.

Until recently, building sophisticated AI models required hundreds of millions of dollars in computing power. Now, models are being trained for a fraction of that cost, enabling a much broader range of financial firms to implement AI technologies.

“AI will be made available to everyone – the world will be able to build applications on top,” said Lee.

For everyday investors, this level of access may prove to be one of the most transformative aspects of AI in finance. Previously, obtaining high-quality investment advice and in-depth data analysis meant relying on costly human advisers or institutional-grade tools that were beyond the reach of most individuals.

With AI-powered market analysis assistants emerging to bridge that gap, users will be able to query the markets in plain language, analyse stock trends in real time and receive suggestions tailored to their investment preferences.

Ultimately, it is expected that these assistants will offer tailored guidance to an individual’s specific profile, factoring in things like risk tolerance and income level, but also personal values and unique financial goals.

In some markets, AI regulators have already approved AI platforms for public use. But as these tools begin offering recommendations that resemble traditional financial advice, they raise important regulatory questions around licensing, disclosure, complaint processes and duty-of-care obligations.

Financial regulators around the world are looking at how to address these issues. With the right policy and regulatory frameworks in place, AI could help democratise investing, making smart, data-driven decisions accessible to all, not just the already wealthy.

– Tim McCready was a guest of the Asian Financial Forum

 

An unexpected journey - 15 years with the Leadership Network

Tim McCready joined the Leadership Network in 2010, but his journey truly took flight two years later—in the unexpected setting of Vladivostok. That visit became the catalyst for a series of adventures: driving across Russia, travelling to Myanmar through the Foundation’s Young Business Leaders Initiative, working across Southeast Asia, and emerging as a respected voice on trade and geopolitics. In March, now 15 years into his involvement with the network, Tim shared his inspirational story at a meeting of the Foundation’s Honorary Advisers, reflecting on how the network has helped shape his life and career. What follows is the speech he delivered at that gathering.

We’ve all had moments in life that felt ordinary at the time, just another day. But looking back, you realise that moment put you on a completely different path.

For me, that moment happened in one of the last places I ever expected. But more on that in a moment.

I’ve been part of the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s Leadership Network since 2010. That involvement has given me incredible experiences: exploring Asia’s business and culture, connecting with thought leaders and future leaders, and serving as Chair of the Leadership Network advisory group.

My career has been varied. I’ve:

  • helped startups raise capital.
  • supported multinationals entering New Zealand.
  • worked with many different government agencies on strategy.
  • spent considerable time in Southeast Asia helping businesses understand regional opportunities.
  • written on trade and geopolitics for the New Zealand Herald, and emceed many of New Zealand’s highest-profile business summits.

At the heart of it, my work sits at the intersection of business, trade, and investment, helping the public and private sectors navigate an increasingly complex world.

I don’t share this to list achievements, but to show how central the Asia New Zealand Foundation has been to all of it.

And, somewhat unexpectedly, it all started not in China, Japan, or Singapore. But somewhere we don’t often think about as even being in Asia – Vladivostok, in the far east of Russia.

People often say New Zealand sits at the edge of the world. In my opinion, that edge is Vladivostok.

Remote and bordered by North Korea and China, just across the sea from Japan, it’s one of the most distant major cities from its own capital, both in geography and influence. The Asian influence there is unmistakable, shaping the city in ways that make it feel a world away from Moscow.

In 2012, the Asia New Zealand Foundation advertised an opportunity for Leadership Network members to attend APEC in Vladivostok, as part of the Voices of the Future delegation.

I think that is the one and only time the Foundation has sent anyone to Russia.

At the time, I was working for NZTE in London, leading its European investment activity. I thought I had a solid understanding of international business and trade. But suddenly I was at one of the most high-profile economic summits in the world, and it shifted everything I thought I knew.

Many of the people here tonight have attended multiple APEC summits, helping shape trade agreements and international policy and dialogue. But for me at the time, it was all new.

Let me take you back to 2012:

John Key was New Zealand’s Prime Minister. Hu Jintao was in his final few months as President of China.

Psy’s Gangnam Style was spreading around the world, introducing a new generation to K-pop

President Barack Obama was in full campaign mode ahead of the Presidential election where he was up against Mitt Romney, and because of that Hillary Clinton (as Secretary of State) delivered the US address at APEC in his place.

One of Prime Minister John Key’s top priorities while he was in Russia was to progress a Free Trade Agreement with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.

As we now know, that didn’t eventuate. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the FTA never progressed.

I caught up with John Key just before his meeting with Putin. We talked about the upcoming meeting, and he admitted he was a little nervous.

And that conversation taught me that trade deals aren’t just about economics.

They’re about geopolitics. They’re about relationships. They’re about the personalities of world leaders. And in many ways, we are seeing that play out now more than ever.

That experience at APEC seemed to set off a chain reaction that shaped the rest of my career.

While at APEC, I found myself in conversation with a group of business leaders and journalists, including one from the New Zealand Herald. At one point during the conversation, she turned to me and said, ‘You should write about that.’

I hadn’t considered it before. But the idea stuck. So, I gave it a go.

And since then, alongside my other work commitments, I’ve been writing on trade, investment, and international affairs, always with a strong focus on Asia.

That led to regular commentary on TV and radio, and the chance to moderate and emcee major business events both in New Zealand and also internationally.

And, eventually, attending APEC in 2012 led me to what I feel is the ultimate full-circle moment.

Fast forward to 2021, and it was New Zealand’s turn to host APEC.

This time, I wasn’t in the audience, I was curating the content for the CEO Summit – including facilitating some of the discussions that took place on stage.

The lineup included Angela Merkel, Amal Clooney, the chair of Tesla Robyn Denholm and other top business and political figures from across APEC economies.

The shift from being an audience member in Vladivostok to helping shape the dialogue on a global stage started with one opportunity when the Asia New Zealand Foundation called for applications to attend APEC.

Of course, many of you will remember that 2021 didn’t turn out to be the APEC New Zealand had hoped for. COVID had other plans. While Auckland was under heavy COVID restrictions, I was on the main stage of Auckland’s Aotea Centre, overseeing the live broadcast to a global audience.

Despite the challenges, it was a huge success and remains one of the most surreal and rewarding moments of my career.

But the Foundation hasn’t just shaped my career. It has changed how I see the world.

One of the Russian delegates at the Voices of the Future Programme at APEC in Russia – Igor – became a good friend. He visited New Zealand, we did a bit of a road trip around the country. I half-joked that we should do something similar in Russia and drive across it. He said absolutely no way – “that would be a terrible idea!”

But twelve months later, I had convinced him to do it, and I was back in Russia. Not for a summit. Not for work. But to drive across the country with Igor and another New Zealand friend of mine, in a Toyota Prius I bought in Japan and had shipped to Vladivostok.

Over five weeks, we drove 15,000km from Vladivostok to St Petersburg. Along the borders of China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, meeting people and seeing the country in a way no conference could ever show me.

That’s something that has stuck with me whenever I travel to Asia.

You cannot understand a country, its economy, its culture, its opportunities, just by reading reports or sitting in meeting rooms. You have to be there, on the ground.

Another important thing I wanted to highlight is that none of what I have done would have been possible without the networks I have built.

I didn’t have a strong network starting out. The Foundation gave me my first connections. It put me in rooms I never thought I’d be in and introduced me to amazing people.

A few years after my time at APEC, I travelled to Myanmar with the Foundation as part of the Young Business Leaders Initiative to connect with emerging leaders across Southeast Asia.

At the time, Myanmar was at a turning point, opening up and attempting to transition from military rule to democracy.

It felt like a nation on the brink of something new. The people I met there weren’t just interested in business, they were thinking about what Myanmar’s future could be, what role they could play in shaping it, and how we could all work together to connect Myanmar with the world.

Sadly, things have changed for Myanmar since then.

But here’s the thing: those relationships didn’t disappear.

The friendships I made in Yangon (Myanmar’s largest city) remain. Some of those people are now close friends. Some I’ve since worked with on trade opportunities between New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

Even in uncertainty, relationships endure.

That’s why I’m so grateful to the Foundation and to all those who support it. Because of your work, people like me have been able to build careers, networks, and perspectives that wouldn’t have otherwise existed.

So no, Vladivostok 2012 wasn’t a defining moment for New Zealand-Russia relations. It wasn’t even particularly a defining event for global trade.

But it was a defining moment for me.

It opened doors I didn’t know existed. It changed how I see business. And it led me to opportunities that transformed my life.

That’s the power of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

And as Asia’s importance to New Zealand continues to grow, the Foundation’s work has never been more vital.

To everyone who contributes to that mission: thank you. You’re not just shaping an organisation. You’re shaping the future of so many people’s lives.

New Zealand Infrastructure Investment Summit 2025 (LinkedIn)