- The Securities and Futures Commission has appointed a five-person search committee to find a replacement for Ashley Alder, who announced yesterday that he would not renew his contract when it expires next September
- Alder’s deputy Julia Leung, a former financial journalist-turned regulator, is the front runner for one of the top regulatory jobs in the world, brokers said
The deputy chief executive of Hong Kong's securities regulator is tipped for a promotion to head the watchdog agency in one of Asia's largest capital markets, as a global search gets underway for a replacement for the incumbent CEO Ashley Alder when he steps down next year, brokers said.
Julia Leung Fung-yee, Alder's deputy at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is the front runner for the chief executive officer's job, according to the head of Hong Kong's securities industry guild.
"Julia Leung is an ideal candidate for the SFC's top job as she knows the Hong Kong market well," said the Hong Kong Securities Association's Chairman Gordon Tsui Leun-on. "When she was at the government, and now at the SFC, she was always very sincere in helping local stockbrokers and fund managers to develop their businesses."
The departure of Alder, the second chief executive since the CEO's job was split from the regulator's chairmanship in 2006, would require someone to pick up the baton to enforce the city's financial rules, watch out for minority shareholders' interests and work with Chinese authorities on cross-border corporate malfeasance. Outstanding cases on the SFC's docket include the ongoing prosecution of the so-called Engima Network of companies, allegedly the mastermind of one of the biggest cases of financial fraud in the city's history.
"We will consider all potential candidates including domestic and international professionals who are interested in the job," the SFC's Chairman Tim Lui Tim-leung said in a telephone interview with South China Morning Post.
Lui, who was appointed to chair the regulator in October last year, is part of a five-person search committee headed by Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po to find a replacement for Alder. The outgoing chief executive, who turned 60 in June, sent an email on Monday to all 908 staff at the SFC to announce that he would not renew his contract when it expires at the end of September 2020.
Many global financial professionals and securities experts would be interested in the job, said Jerry Chang, managing director of the recruiting firm Barons & Company, which has not been retained by the SFC to find a candidate.
"This is a top job to regulate one of the world's largest financial markets, alongside New York and London (in prestige and influence )," Chang said. "Even if the city has (been saddled with) protest rallies in recent months, that will not discourage the international experts."
It helps that Alder's job " paid HK$10.23 million (US$1.3 million) in the financial year that ended in March " is the second-highest paid in Hong Kong's financial services industry, excluding hedge fund managers and investment bankers.
Alder, who has a Masters in Law from Trinity College in Cambridge, was a lawyer for 20 years, and headed Asia for Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, one of the world's largest legal firms, with head offices in London and Sydney. During his tenure at the SFC's helm, Alder stepped up on enforcements and worked with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on cross-border cases.
"He carried out a lot of reforms to strengthen the structure of the SFC," Lui said. "I have tried to persuade Alder to stay on. However, he considered it was the best time to leave after nine years at the SFC."
Leung, 59, was a financial journalist for a decade at The Asian Wall Street Journal, before working the next 14 years at the city's de facto central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
She had a five-year stint as an undersecretary for financial services and the treasury, before joining the SFC in March 2015 as executive director to regulate investment products, moving a year later to oversee the city's 600 stockbrokers and other financial intermediaries. She was promoted to become deputy CEO in March last year.
Leung declined to say if she would throw her hat in for a promotion. If she were promoted, Leung would become the first woman chief executive of the SFC.
Her age, just shy of the retirement age for Hong Kong's civil servants at 60, is not an issue, because the SFC does not have a fixed retirement age for senior executives, said Lui.
"We will adopt a flexible approach about the age issue when selecting the candidate," he said. "We are open-minded about whether Ashley's successor should be a local Chinese, or someone from overseas. The key issue is to find the best candidate who has passion and experience to the regulator's job."
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