Hong Kong stock exchange chairman Ronald Arculli will step down next month, while two directors tipped as front runners to replace him will quit the same month, leaving the race for the job wide open.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing said yesterday in its results statement that government-appointed directors Laura Cha Shih May-lung and Moses Cheng Mo-chi would step down after serving on the board for six years - the government generally does not appoint anyone as director to public bodies longer than that.
Among the 13 HKEx directors, six are selected by the shareholders and six are appointed by the government, with the chief executive taking the remaining slot.
By law, the HKEx chairman has to be approved by the chief executive, making the government an important player in the selection process. Both Arculli and his predecessor, Charles Lee Yeh-kwong, were appointed to the board by the government.
Government sources said that since Hong Kong's new chief executive would not be selected until March 25, the race to lead the exchange was wide open, with no favourite candidate emerging. The HKEx will need a new chairman after its annual general meeting on April 23, the last one to be chaired by Arculli. That will leave less than a month for the new chief executive to pick Arculli's successor.
Outgoing director Cha is a former vice-chairwoman of the Securities and Futures Commission, while Cheng used to be the stock exchange's listing committee chairman, which made them the front runners to be Arculli's successor.
A source at HKEx said the government at one point had considered waiving the six-year convention for either Cha or Cheng to allow one of them to take the job. The idea was dropped for fear it might stir up a controversy, and also because neither Cha nor Cheng were particularly interested in the job.