Frank Newman talks to China Daily.

In his vision, SDB, which has a tradition of doing business with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), aims for the middle market as its primary source of customers.

"It is getting harder for banks to specialize in giant companies because there is a trend globally for these companies to bypass the banking system and issue their own commercial papers and corporate bonds," he said.

"Banks that are focusing on SMEs will be in a much better position because they will depend on the banking industry basically forever."

Story: Wang Bo | Video: Lou Yi, Huan CAO