HKEx chief denies pressure over penny stock fiasco forced him to quit
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chief executive Kwong Ki-chi yesterday denied he was stepping down because of the so-called penny stock fiasco, saying he had decided to leave for personal reasons.
Separately, Securities and Futures Commission chairman Andrew Sheng, who the market speculates will also quit because of the fiasco, said he had not thought about whether to renew his contract when it expired in September next year.
Mr Kwong on Wednesday told the HKEx board he did not intend to renew his contract when it expired on March 6 but would stay on until the annual general meeting in April. Market players believed his decision was related to government pressure following the July penny stock incident.
However, Mr Kwong yesterday rejected such claims. 'I have decided not to renew my contract with the exchange because of personal reasons. It is not related to the penny stock incident. It is nothing special for someone not to continue their working contract. Anyone can decide not to renew their employment contract. If the Chief Executive did not renew his contract five years later, would you be surprised?'
Investors rushed to dump more than 200 low-priced stocks on July 26, a day after HKEx issued a consultation paper suggesting delisting criteria for poorly performing companies. The most controversial proposal was the delisting of firms which traded at less than 50 HK cents for 30 days and did not consolidate their shares within 12 months.
Mr Kwong will hold a press conference today to announce the issue of a revised consultation paper in which the price threshold has been scrapped.
Mr Sheng yesterday said: 'I have never thought about the question of whether to renew my working contract.'
Despite staging a war of words with Mr Kwong in the Legislative Council in September over the penny stock fiasco, Mr Sheng yesterday thanked the HKEx chief executive for his past co-operation. 'Mr Kwong, as we all know, is a very hard-working and sincere person. I would like to thank him for his work with the SFC in the past,' he said.
