About

Established as a high-achiever after an excellent legal and business education at Cambridge University and Harvard Business School, and with what has been described by one source as ‘an intimidatingly good CV’, Yong Kai Wong set his sights on conquering the in-house legal market. Among other high-profile roles, Wong has been associate general counsel with APG Asset management, one of the three largest pension funds in the world, a period that he mentions as a career highlight due to the ‘work ethic, culture and institutional values’ of the company. From here, he moved on to his current company CITIC Capital in December 2012. He is now managing director, head of legal and compliance, a broad role that requires an appreciation ‘of both micro and macro factors’, along with being ‘at or near the cutting edge on legal and practical matters’. As part of his ‘most challenging role to date’, Wong has supported CITIC Capital through a number of complex deals with major players in the Chinese business landscape including Alibaba, FocusMedia and Asiainfo-Linkage. These deals are testament to the ‘execution-driven approach’ that he has helped to foster whilst here. On top of his technical skills, sources also point to Wong’s ‘excellent personal communication skills and reputation for an exceptional work ethic’, which is borne out by the improvements he has made to the legal team’s internal workings in the four years he has been with CITIC. Wong explains that he briefs his team to ‘be proud of what [they] do’ and take charge of ‘the commercial aspect’ of their work, which has led to ‘a more cohesive team as a whole’. Wong believes that many in-house counsel should focus on their main objective of adding value to their company. ‘The legal profession should realise that a lot of issues are not purely legal or purely commercial, and the reality is that laws are meant to facilitate commerce or economic relationships. What we should do is push forward and see what we can do to drive and create value for the business’.