Chim quits politics to play role in markets
Controversial provisional legislator Chim Pui-chung has decided not to stand for next year's Legislative Council election, marking an end to a colourful eight years in political life.
Instead, he will return to the stock market to spend more time on his own investments, as well as studying 'fortune telling' - though not necessarily in that order.
Mr Chim, 50, has twice been elected the Legislative Council's representative for the financial services industry, which takes in stockbrokers, futures traders, gold dealers and insurers.
He has waged a running battle with the Securities and Futures Commission, culminating in a legal fight that saw the regulator apply to wind up his long-suspended company, Mandarin Resources.
Mr Chim said his decision to bring his spell in politics to an end was unrelated to the lengthy legal battle, but was intended to bring a breakthrough in his own career.
'I have been a politician since 1991 and will have spent eight years of my life in the Legislative Council next year,' he said.
'I would not see any more breakthroughs in this job even if I was elected again next year. Sooner or later, you need to step down. It's a good time to step down after the handover.' Mr Chim predicted there would be three possible candidates likely to stand for his constituency next year: Bank of China Securities managing director and former stock exchange vice-chairman Fung Chi-kin, Hong Kong Stockbrokers Association chairman and provisional legislator Henry Wu King-cheong, and Hong Kong Stockbrokers Association vice-chairman Paul Fan Chor-ho.
Mr Chim said he planned to divide his time between investing, travelling overseas, his grandchildren and studying fortune telling.
Mr Chim is known in the industry as the 'Golden Jobber' for his talent for buying troubled listed companies and turning them around in the 1980s, before becoming a politician.
He said he had no detailed investment plans for next year, but said it would always be a good time to invest in the market after a slump.
His remaining companies, Mandarin Resources and Chintex Oil, have been the two longest suspended stocks in Hong Kong, with no trading since 1986.
According to a new exchange rule, Mr Chim will need to submit business proposals for the two companies within 18 months or they may be delisted from the exchange.
