New SFC chief has plateful of problems on financial menu

The Securities and Futures Commission finally has a new boss and we are lining up to give him our wish list.

The overall response has been positive to the government's announcement that Herbert Smith Asia head Ashley Alder will succeed Martin Wheatley as head of the Securities and Futures Commission from October 1 for a three-year term.

The 52-year-old Briton is a first-class honours graduate from Cambridge University and has been focused on mergers and acquisitions and other listed company related legal advisory roles for decades.

Having been in Hong Kong since 1989, he has local knowledge and in fact worked at the SFC as executive director of corporate finance from October 2001 to 2004.

His international background will be a plus for the Hong Kong securities watchdog as it prepares to handle an increasing number of international issues such as regulation of over-the-counter derivative trading, electronic dark pools platforms and cross-border listing issues. Cheung Fai-hung, an Allen & Overy regulatory partner, said the appointment of an international lawyer was an important development given the rapidly increasing complexity of the financial sector and the cross-border regulatory issues.

During his last brief stint at the SFC, the problem of regulating cross-border listings was already on the agenda and he said the SFC needed to have closer ties with the China Securities Regulatory Commission on corporate governance issues.