Saturday, January 23, 2021 B3 BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES The top mainland talent helping HK stay relevant

Enoch Yiu and Georgina Lee for 12 successive days so far this year, and CICC foresees as much as 600 billion yuan flowing into Hong Kong’s banks and stockbro- Hong Kong this year. kers are hiring more people from “Amid China’s rapid develop- the mainland to make use of their ment, some may look at the Mandarin-speaking skills to pitch nation’s growing wealth relative for initial public offers and other to Hong Kong’s, and the falling deals, as the city’s benchmark proportion of Hong Kong’s con- stock index hovers at a 20-month tribution to China’s GDP, as indi- high amid record inflows of capi- cators that the city’s glory days are tal from China. numbered,” Li said in his blog in Mainlanders occupy about 60 December before stepping down per cent of all investment banking as chief executive. jobs in Hong Kong, up 10 percent- “However, such a conclusion age points from 2015, and their is at odds when you consider share may widen to between 65 Hong Kong’s unique and signifi- per cent and 70 per cent over the cant contributions to the develop- next four years, according to John ment of China’s financial Mullally, regional director at the markets, and the strong likelihood executive search firm Robert Wal- that these will be further en- ters, citing data and conversations hanced in the years ahead.” with clients. Jerry Chang, managing direc- Shan Weijian, tor at the recruiting firm Barons & Pacific Alliance Group Co, said: “investment banks actu- Shan, chairman of Hong Kong- ally care less about where candi- based private equity firm Pacific dates come from than their Alliance Group, is one of the city’s demand for native Mandarin most powerful wheeler-dealers. speakers familiar with the [corpo- In his memoir – with a fore- rate] culture in the mainland.” word written by former US Fed- The changing demographics eral Reserve chairwoman and US in Asia’s second-largest capital President Joe Biden’s secretary of market have spillover socioeco- the Treasury, Janet Yellen – Shan nomic implications in a city grap- recalled a childhood during the pling with record unemployment Cultural Revolution, where he and its worst recession in decades. spent six years in the Gobi desert Meanwhile, nerves remain raw as one of Mao Zedong’s “barefoot from the anti-government pro- doctors,” providing basic health tests of 2019 and resentment care to troops. against mainlanders bubbles Shan returned to Beijing to under the surface. Still, the trend study English in 1975. When reflects Hong Kong’s reliance on China opened itself to the world in mainland capital – and talent – to 1978, he became one of the first remain relevant as China’s off- post-revolution Chinese students shore financial centre. to study abroad, earning business China-domiciled companies degrees from the University of San such as Nongfu Spring made up Francisco and UC Berkeley. 98 per cent of the US$50.83 billion His career in finance took him raised last year through initial from the World Bank to JPMorgan public offerings in Hong Kong, up Chase, and the private equity from the 73 per cent in 2019 and firms Newbridge Capital and 94 per cent in 2018, according to TPG. There was also a six-year Refinitiv data. A decade ago, stint teaching business at the mainland firms made up 51 per Wharton School at the University cent of new capital raised here. of Pennsylvania before he foun- Banks led by China Interna- ded PAG in 2010. tional Capital Corp (CICC), China market deals in Hong Kong, help- Li Tong, of the Mobike bicycle-sharing Early in his career, Shan Merchants Bank and Citic Secur- ing Xiaomi raise US$4 billion International (BOCI) app. helped Newbridge privatise state- ities have increased their share of through a combined sale of con- Li is the first woman to take the “As China’s new economy owned Development Hong Kong’s deals, making up vertible bonds and additional lead of the brokerage arm of grows and household wealth in- Bank, subsequently selling it to seven of last year’s top 10 offering shares in Hong Kong’s biggest China’s oldest bank, becoming Investment banks actually creases, the relevant financial ser- (Group) in bookrunners. In 2015, five of the top-up funding after a float. chief executive in 2012. Born in care less about where vices sector will also grow,” Bao 2011 to become Ping An Bank. top 10 were mainland banks, Growing up in Beijing, Sun 1971, Li is the daughter of China’s said in a September 2018 inter- More recently, PAG prevailed in while CICC was the sole one on studied at Columbia Law School former propaganda chief and candidates come from view with the Post when his bank the boardroom tussle for China’s Illustration: Henry Wong the list as recently as 2010. before practising in New York. She Politburo Standing Committee was listed in Hong Kong. third-largest producer of industri- Here are 10 of the most influ- moved to Hong Kong in 1990 to member Li Changchun. than their demand for “I think the sector will double al gas, Yingde Gases Group. ential bankers in Hong Kong who join the Securities and Futures BOCI was the sole Chinese native Mandarin speakers in size in five years.” hail from the mainland, based on Commission (SFC) to develop the investment bank to win the 2019 Fred Hu Zuliu, founding chairman, how their companies performed regulatory framework for main- mandate to help Saudi Aramco familiar with [mainland Charles Li Xiaojia, Primavera Capital in the Refinitiv 2020 ranking of land companies to list in Hong raise US$25.6 billion, the record corporate] culture former HKEX chief executive Hu, who turns 58 in June, studied equity capital market deals: Kong as H shares. holder for the biggest stock sale in Li, an oil rig worker and journalist engineering at Tsinghua before She joined Morgan Stanley in global finance. The bank ranked JERRY CHANG, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BARONS & CO before turning to finance, was turning to economics at Harvard Wang Sheng, China International 1998 and advised on landmark eighth in the amount of listings Hong Kong’s highest paid finan- University, where he earned a Capital Corporation listings for China Life Insurance, proceeds raised last year in Hong cial regulator when he headed doctorate. Wang heads the investment and Semiconductor Kong. economist, followed by jobs at the Asia’s second-largest stock mar- Early in his career, the Hunan banking department of China’s Manufacturing International Hong Kong Monetary Authority, ket. He was paid HK$51.1 million province native worked as an largest investment bank CICC, Corporation. After brief stints at Mark Wang Yunfeng, HSBC the Hong Kong office of the Bank in 2019 in total remuneration, ac- economist and consultant at the which topped Refinitiv’s 2019 and Credit Suisse and Citigroup from Wang was promoted last March to for International Settlements, cording to filings by Hong Kong IMF and the World Bank, before 2020 ranking as the top listings 2002 to 2006, she returned to Mor- president of HSBC’s China busi- CICC and UBS before being hired Exchanges and Clearing Limited joining Goldman Sachs in 1997, bookrunner in Hong Kong. He gan Stanley in 2006 where she rose ness. HSBC was the eighth- by Citi. (HKEX), which is listed in the city. where he rose to Greater China joined CICC in 2002 with a mas- to become one of the highest- biggest bank in follow-up He brought several mega deals Hong Kong is the world’s chairman by 2008. ter’s degree in economics from ranking women bankers in Asia. offerings in 2020, falling from to list in Hong Kong, including the third-largest capital market, with He left Goldman to establish Tsinghua University and worked She is a director on the board of third place in 2019. flotations of Yum China and Net- the city’s total capitalisation rising Primavera in 2010. The firm his way up the ranks to managing Estee Lauder. Born in the Jiangsu provincial Ease, lifting Citi to fourth place in from the time Li took over in 2010 bought out Yum Brands’ main- director. capital of Nanjing, Wang worked Hong Kong’s equity capital mar- to HK$46.13 trillion as of Decem- land network of KFC, Taco Bell CICC co-sponsored Alibaba’s Yang Fan, UBS as a foreign exchange and bond ket deals last year. ber 24. The city had been the and Pizza Hut outlets in 2016, 2019 secondary listing in Hong Yang joined UBS last April as the trader at Bank of China during the world’s biggest destination for spinning off Yum China in a New Kong, which paved the way for Asia chairwoman for global bank- 1980s before joining Deutsche Bao Fan, China Renaissance company listings in seven of the York initial public offering several Chinese technology giants such ing at the Swiss bank. UBS was Bank where he was the co-head of Bao, 50, is chairman and chief past 11 years. months later. Yum China raised as NetEase and JD.com to raise ranked seventh in Hong Kong’s Asia between 2004 and 2005. executive of China Renaissance, A resident of Hong Kong for US$2.23 billion last September in capital on the city’s exchange. listings league table last year, after Wang moved to HSBC in 2005 an investment bank that helped nearly two decades, Li is a fierce a secondary listing in Hong Kong. “Hong Kong’s stock market a 12-month ban on underwriting and has overseen China banking many start-ups and biotechnol- defender of the city’s role as Hu was appointed an inde- has become the preferred IPO stock sales following a fine by the and markets since June 2016. He is ogy firms raise capital. China’s window to global finan- pendent non-executive director venue by unicorns,” Wang said SFC. considered a potential successor Born in Shanghai, Bao studied cial markets, offering Hong Kong of SCMP Group in 2010 before the during a conference in November At China Merchants Securities to the bank’s Asia-Pacific chief at the Norwegian Business School as the go-to place to help Chinese newspaper’s acquisition by in Sanya. His 2019 salary was 17 International since 2013 before executive Peter Wong Tung-shun. after obtaining his first degree at companies raise international Alibaba Group Holding in million yuan (HK$20.4 million), joining UBS, Yang helped trans- Fudan University. He worked at capital in HKEX’s three-year stra- December 2015. He is also a according to a CICC filing. Wang form the retail brokerage into a Jiang Guorong, Citi Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse tegic plan. director on the boards of HKEX, and CICC declined to comment. full-service investment bank. The Jiang, 51, is Citi’s China chairman before venturing out to establish A former China chairman of UBS and Alibaba affiliate Ant bank, the overseas unit of China and head of corporate and invest- China Renaissance in 2005. JPMorgan Chase before joining Group. Wei Sun-Christianson, Merchants Securities, was among ment banking. Born in Nanjing, The Beijing-based bank made HKEX, Li created a cross-border “Hong Kong must overcome Morgan Stanley the top five in offer underwriting Jiang graduated in economics its name by advising, and invest- investment channel called Stock division and stalemate and build a Sun-Christianson is the Asia- by value from 2016 to 2018. from his hometown university ing in, a number of high-profile Connect to let Chinese investors healthy relationship with the cen- Pacific co-chief executive and The bank rose to second place before getting a master's degree at technology deals, including the trade in Hong Kong, and allow tral government under one coun- chief executive of China at Mor- after helping Yum China arrange Miami University, followed by a mergers between Meituan and global funds to access the Shang- try, two systems,” he wrote in a gan Stanley, positions she has its US$2 billion stock sale, as well doctorate in economics at Cornell Dazhong Dianping, between Didi hai and Shenzhen exchanges via column in the Post last year. “Only held since 2011. The bank was the as a US$1.6 billion secondary list- University in New York. and Kuaidi to form China’s largest Hong Kong. pragmatism and constructive top arranger last year of fundrais- ing by data centre provider GDS His career began at the Inter- ride-hailing company, as well as Capital from the mainland compromise can secure a better ing across all equity capital Holdings. national Monetary Fund as an Meituan-Dianping’s acquisition into the city has set daily records future for Hong Kong.”

Wang Sheng Wei Sun-Christianson Yang Fan Li Tong Mark Wang Jiang Guorong Bao Fan Charles Li Shan Weijian Fred Hu