Having splurged more than 40 million yuan on a luxury mansion, the pure-image pop singer who ventured into the financial circle has now become another little-known wealthy woman.

Following Eason Chan and Richie Jen, the Hong Kong luxury residential market has welcomed another high-profile buyer.

This time, the buyer is Chiu Chung Mei, a senior executive at Standard Chartered Bank, who is hailed in the financial circle as "the most beautiful female CEO in the banking industry". With the news of her purchasing a luxury property worth over 40 million Hong Kong dollars coming to light, another identity of hers has also been uncovered — the "jade-like female singer" who was once extremely popular in the Chinese-language music scene.

Back then, Chiu Chung Mei entered the music industry almost at the same time as figures like Jonathan Lee and Wakin Chau, but she shot to instant stardom first with her pure appearance and sweet voice. After that, she released more than 20 albums one after another, with many hit songs spreading across streets and alleys. No one expected that she would suddenly enter the financial circle at the peak of her singing career, where she has stayed for more than 30 years.

Over the years, many good-looking finance practitioners have dabbled in content creation, become internet celebrities, or even ventured into the entertainment industry to make money. But the entertainment industry has had a tough time in the past two years. Even celebrities have publicly called out "begging for job opportunities", and many veteran TVB actors have traveled northward to star in short dramas... In contrast, the financial circle offers a solid base salary and a clear career progression path, and many successful cross-over internet celebrities and stars have quietly amassed wealth...

1./ In charge of assets exceeding one trillion! The "most beautiful female CEO in the banking industry" turns out to be a former "jade-like female singer" /

Recently, Chiu Chung Mei, who is hailed in the financial circle as "the most beautiful female CEO in the banking industry", spent a whopping 46.5 million Hong Kong dollars (about 40.11 million yuan) to acquire a three-bedroom unit at Bowen Court in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. The price per square foot is about 31,313 Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to more than 290,000 yuan per square meter.

Although Bowen Court is not as famous as Repulse Bay, as a traditional standalone luxury residential building in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong, it has always been favored by political and business celebrities. For example, Zhang Liang, a partner at Bain Capital, and Lee Shau Kee, the founder of Henderson Land Development, have once resided here.

Being able to buy a luxury property here, Chiu Chung Mei is by no means an ordinary person. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Wealth and Personal Banking at Standard Chartered Bank, and also oversees the business across the ASEAN, South Asia, Greater China and North Asia regions. Headquartered in London, Standard Chartered is an international bank with a 160-year history, whose business covers about 59 markets around the world, and is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Therefore, Chiu Chung Mei is no mere figurehead, but a powerful figure in charge of assets exceeding 420 billion US dollars. As the news of her luxury property purchase continues to draw attention, another little-known identity of hers has been uncovered — the "jade-like female singer" who was once extremely popular in the Chinese-language music scene.

In the mid-1980s, Chiu Chung Mei, who was still in college, was accidentally discovered by a music producer. She signed with Rock Records and made her debut under the stage name Julia. Because of her academic commitments, she could only release records and attend promotional events during winter and summer vacations every year, and was teased as a "migratory bird singer".

That period was the golden age of the record industry, and singers such as Jonathan Lee, Wakin Chau and Jiang Yuheng debuted around the same time as Chiu Chung Mei. But those later big names in the music industry were all "losers to her" back then. With her pure appearance and sweet voice, she shot to instant stardom first.

In 1987, Chiu Chung Mei released her first English album *Always True / Thousand Times You*, which was extremely rare in the Chinese-language music scene at that time. Having grown up in Canada since childhood, she had a natural advantage in the English language. After that, she followed up the momentum by releasing several more English albums including *SHARE* and *SURPRISE*, directly sparking a wave of English record releases.

During those years, she also dabbled in acting, starring in TV dramas *Long Lane* and *The Porter*, excelling in both singing and acting. Among her works, songs like *Is It That I'm Too Good to You* and *When You Learn to Protect Yourself* became extremely popular across streets and alleys, and the media praised her as the "eternal jade-like female singer".

However, at the peak of her singing career, she quietly started paving the way for another profession. In 1988, Chiu Chung Mei stood out from more than 3,000 candidates and secured an internship at Citibank, and officially joined the bank two years later.

Why did Chiu Chung Mei give up her thriving career as a popular female singer and start from scratch in the financial circle? She once publicly stated:

"I have always been very clear that a singer's career is short-lived, and I need a long-term career. I love singing, but I also love thinking and getting things done with my hands. When working at the bank, I adapted to the role very easily."

In 1996, she released her last album *Pouring My Heart Out*. The producer of this album is none other than her husband Lin Zhiqiang, a well-known Singaporean music producer and the founder of HYPE Records. After that, she completely bid farewell to the music industry and devoted herself entirely to the financial circle. She spent 18 years at Citibank, rising all the way from an entry-level intern to the head of consumer finance business for the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2009, Chiu Chung Mei joined Standard Chartered Bank as the Global Head of Wealth Management, and was promoted continuously afterwards: she served as the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Singapore from 2015 to 2018, joined the group's management in 2017, and took up the position of Chief Executive Officer for ASEAN and South Asia in June 2018; in January 2021, she was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Wealth and Personal Banking.

In 2021, Chiu Chung Mei reached the highlight of her career. She successively took up two external positions as an independent non-executive director on the board of CapitaLand and the chairman of Trust Bank Singapore, and was listed on Forbes' "Asia's Most Powerful Women in Business" list. She is a veritable "Iron Lady" in the financial circle.

Outside of work, Chiu Chung Mei is also a mother of two children. She has admitted on many occasions that she is indeed too busy with work to spend time with her sons. "After quitting the singing career, I only sing to my sons. Although my career is reaching new heights now, the whole family can still maintain a good relationship, which is mainly thanks to my husband."

2./ Carina Lau and Faye Wong rushed to give her business! After failing to achieve stardom, she quit the industry decisively and became the "Insurance Queen" with an annual income of tens of millions! /

At the end of June this year, a set of photos from an insurance industry dinner quietly circulated on social media. In the photos, Shaun Tam, the second husband of TVB actress Toby Leung, was dressed in a brown suit, with a silver "COT" medal hanging on his chest. COT refers to the super member level of the Million Dollar Round Table, whose performance requirement is three times that of an ordinary member, which means his annual income exceeds 2.56 million Hong Kong dollars.

But compared with this rising star in the insurance industry, the more eye-catching person is Shangguan Si Na standing next to him. Dressed in a black dress and wearing a bright smile, she is in fact the widely recognized "Insurance Queen" in Hong Kong's financial circle.

Shangguan Si Na is of Sino-Japanese mixed descent, born into a performing arts family. Her cousin is Julian Cheung, her uncle is the famous actor Charlie Cho, her maternal grandfather John Cho was an early Hong Kong actor, and her aunt Cho Jan-nei was a beauty pageant champion in the 1960s.

Growing up in such a family, Shangguan Si Na naturally entered the entertainment industry. The first film she starred in was *Mismatched Couples*, in which she collaborated with Donnie Yen. After that, she appeared in films including *The Inspector Wears Skirts* and *The Romancing Star*. In 1986, she released her debut album *Wild Cat*, and was shortlisted for the top 8 candidates for the Best New Artist at the 9th Top Ten Chinese Golden Songs Awards.

With her strong family background and outstanding appearance, James Wong, one of the "Four Great Talents in Hong Kong" back then, grouped Shangguan Si Na with Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Sandra Ng, Chingmy Yau, Margie Tsang, May Lo and Lan Jieying as the "Nine Girls of Kowloon", representing the nine most promising leading actresses at TVB at that time.

But compared with other leading actresses, although Shangguan Si Na had starred in many films and released songs, she never achieved widespread fame. She herself felt that her acting career was dim, so she simply chose to quit the industry and started selling insurance.

While others may need time to adapt when crossing over to the financial circle, Shangguan Si Na transitioned extremely smoothly. She is bold, loyal and good at socializing, and is extremely popular in the entertainment industry. More importantly, she can keep secrets for celebrities, which is extremely important in the entertainment industry that values privacy. Therefore, many celebrities are willing to entrust their insurance matters to her.

With the strong connections she accumulated in the entertainment industry, her client list is almost a "Who's Who of Hong Kong's Celebrities": Anita Mui once bought an insurance policy with a coverage of up to 2 million US dollars; Carina Lau even specifically persuaded Maggie Cheung to buy insurance from her to help her close a deal; Faye Wong bought an insurance policy worth 20 million Hong Kong dollars for her daughter Dou Jingtong.

With the support of these top-tier clients, Shangguan Si Na was quickly promoted to Senior Regional Manager at AIA Insurance. Reports say that she earns tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars a year, owns luxury properties, and her career is thriving.

In 2014, Shangguan Si Na opened a hot pot restaurant "The Fighters Love" in Hong Kong. On the opening day, four film kings including Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Nick Cheung and Jacky Cheung all showed up to support her. Among the "Nine Girls of Kowloon", Chingmy Yau, Margie Tsang and Sandra Ng also came to the scene, and other friends from the entertainment industry including Hacken Lee, Cho Lam and Eric Tsang were also present. The grand occasion was enough to impress everyone with her outstanding popularity.

Today, although Shangguan Si Na has long quit the entertainment industry, her birthday celebrations are still grand every year, and almost all prominent celebrities in Hong Kong's entertainment industry will come to celebrate her birthday. With her strong social skills and the ability to monetize her connections, she has become a different kind of winner in the insurance and business fields.

3./ The trend is quietly shifting! Female celebrities who quit the entertainment industry are quietly amassing wealth in the financial circle /

Over the years, there have been many good-looking finance practitioners who dabbled in content creation, became internet celebrities, or even ventured into the entertainment industry to make money. For example, a top female scholar from the Yuanpei College of Peking University, who was born in the 1990s and became a hit last year, gave up her job at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Hong Kong to become an actress, and would rather play an extra role than work in the financial field.

But the trend seems to be quietly shifting. In addition to "veteran players" like Chiu Chung Mei and Shangguan Si Na, the list of celebrities and internet celebrities who are making a "reverse cross-over" from the entertainment industry to venture into the financial circle has been continuously growing in recent years.

In June this year, at the closing ceremony of the Chinese mainland variety show *Newcomers in the Workplace · Finance Season*, Meng Yutong, the former "internet celebrity secretary" of GREE Electric, voluntarily applied for a job with Guo Xiaotao, the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.: "Is there any opportunity for me to continue to join the Ping An system and enhance my professional capabilities?"

Guo Xiaotao expressed a warm welcome and responded on the spot:

"If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together."

In 2021, Meng Yutong rose to fame because of the variety show *We Are Newcomers in the Workplace*, and joined GREE Electric as Dong Mingzhu's secretary. For a period of time, she was regarded by the market as "the second Dong Mingzhu". After leaving her job in 2023, she transitioned to be a content creator, with tens of millions of built-in traffic, even more popular than many celebrities.

Why did this top internet celebrity suddenly apply for a job in public? In fact, she already revealed it in the variety show that the income from content creation is unstable. After all, no matter how glamorous it is in front of the camera, it is not enough to ease the anxiety caused by interrupted income.

In contrast, the financial circle at least offers a solid base salary and a clear career progression path, so many internet celebrities and celebrities cross over to the financial circle to get a share of the pie.

For example, TVB actress Connie Koo, who once starred in popular TV dramas including *The White Vest* and *Fate Twisters*, decided to devote herself to the insurance industry and make a fresh start after divorcing her ex-husband Jerry Lamb, who was also a TVB artist, in 2020.