K. P. Chen

K. P. Chen (Chinese: 陳光甫; pinyin: Chén Guāngfǔ) (b. 1880—d. July 1976) was a Shanghai-based Chinese banker and State Councillor, was a great innovator, as one of China's most successful entrepreneurs in the twentieth century, and was particularly influential in the financial and business world of Shanghai.

In fact, in "Banking in Modern China: Entrepreneurs, Professional Managers, and the Development of Chinese...", the author, Linsun Cheng says, "It is almost impossible to describe any significant innovation in the history of modern Chinese banks without mentioning K.P. Chen's name." This unassuming looking gent was the founder of the first modern Chinese savings bank, a travel agency, as well as the China Assurance Corporation Ltd. On Monday, Mar. 18, 1940, Time Magazine described him thus:

"Middle-aged Banker Chen (University of Pennsylvania '09) looks so much like a Westerner's idea of a Chinese banker that wily and subtle-minded Americans have difficulty in believing he is as simple and direct as he is. Of average height, moderately fat, bespectacled, careful, shy of the press, close-mouthed (in the Calvin Coolidge rather than Sumner Welles sense), he has no hobbies, makes no picturesque Oriental remarks, works 24 hours a day at the unglamorous business of cementing U.S.-Chinese trade relations, and considers Chinese repayment of U. S. loans his personal responsibility. His pride: that China has repaid $2,300,000 of her previous $25,000,000 loan, is now, because of U. S. needs for tung oil and tin, ahead of schedule."

The most important elements in his success were his American education and connections; his sense of professionalism (demonstrated by his opposition to official interference); his ability to compete and collaborate with foreign firms; his desire to innovate and explore various business strategies; his skill at obtaining community and professional support; and the unity of Chinese bankers.