Visa names new group general manager for Greater China

Visa has appointed Elaine Chang (pictured) as its group general manager for Greater China, succeeding Shirley Yu, who is retiring at the end of the year. 

In her new role, Chang reports to Stephen Karpin, regional president for Visa Asia Pacific. As the group general manager of Visa Greater China, Chang is responsible for overseeing the business operations, strategic development and management of Visa’s business in Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, and Taiwan.

Building on Visa's strong legacy, she is dedicated to collaborating with government and industry partners to bring exponential benefits to Greater China economy and meet the evolving needs of Visa’s clients and partners cross the region.

Chang’s career spans more than 30 years, holding senior leadership roles at Amazon, AWS, and Intel. Chang spent 20 years at Intel in various leadership roles before joining Amazon in 2013 as the global vice president and general manager of Kindle China and was named president of Amazon China in 2016 and managing director of AWS Greater China from 2019 to 2023.

In 2024, Chang took on the role of AWS global go-to-market for Generative AI and machine learning, shaping AWS’s go-to-market approach and helping customers unlock the transformative potential of AI/ML.

Stephen Karpin, regional president for Visa Asia Pacific, said “Chang’s deep expertise and knowledge will accelerate Visa’s aspiration to be the best way to pay and be paid. And as Visa continues to drive innovation in the payments ecosystem, we remain dedicated to advancing the payments industry through the latest technology and security solutions. I thank Yu for her leadership over the last ten years, and for facilitating the smooth transition of the business to Chang until year end.”

Chang said, “Visa is an exceptional business. I’m incredibly excited to step into the role of group general manager for Visa Greater China and lead a business that is at the dynamic intersection of global finance and local innovation. I am committed to building on Visa's strong legacy here."

"By collaborating with government and industry partners, we will leverage Visa’s global leadership in key technologies – from securing digital identity and pioneering Tap to Pay innovations, to enabling the future of intelligent commerce. Together, we will create seamless and secure payment journeys for our customers, empower our clients to unlock new revenue streams, and drive sustainable business growth across the region," she added.

Back in August, Visa joined forces with Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) and Shanghai Commercial Bank to launch an industry-first pilot aimed at transforming B2B payment flow for SME freight forwarders. The pilot’s inaugural transaction was completed at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), a leading global air cargo hub, marking a major milestone in Visa’s strategy to advance seamless, secure supply chain payments.

Focusing on co-loading payments, a business practice where multiple freight forwarders collaborate to pool and consolidate shipments to optimise cost and airline capacity, the pilot introduces a commercial card-based working capital solution, enabling real-time, pre-authorised payments backed by verified cargo data. This effectively addresses industry pain points such as delayed payments, fraud risk, and manual reconciliation, while enhancing efficiency, security, and cash flow for SMEs in the air cargo sector. 

The pilot lays the groundwork for a smarter logistics infrastructure, enabling Visa to explore further innovations and partnerships that meet the demands of businesses of all sizes engaged in cross-border trade with greater agility and trust.

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